Life's Greatest Blessing
by Imagination Is A Gift
Summary: After Klaus trusts Rebekah with the life of his only daughter she must learn how to become a parent - and fast! Matt had nowhere better to be than Rebekah's side as she undertakes the hardest task of her immortal life. Together they struggle to learn how to become parents and protect the child as they face the reality of their feelings for each other. Mabekah!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! My names Izzy and I'm really excited to be publishing the first chapter of this story. I just wanted to quickly note that I'm not a fan of Hayley Marshall, but I've tried to hide the Hayley-Hate in this fic for all the Hayley Stans that may read this. To do that I had to kill her off. Sorry. Also in the first couple chapters there will be other characters from TVD but after that it's mostly just Mabekah. Anyway, I hope you enjoy -Izzy**

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 **Chapter 1**

Matt Donovan. Human, Prom-King, jock, Mr All-American, stereotype popular high-school boy-next-door. He was just that. Matt. And apparently Matt wasn't good enough to be told when something new had happened. Or maybe they just didn't want him to know...

He was at his Wednesday evening shift at Mystic Grill, serving drinks to raging alcoholics who decided to be at the bar, complaining about their families rather than actually spending time with them in hopes to make them less dysfunctional. And they thought Matt cared about their problems. It was laughable, really.

He finished drying the last shot glass and stacked it on the top of the shot-glass pyramid he had made on the bar, consisting of 100 miniature glasses. He took a picture on his phone, wondering how, in a world full of the supernatural, with two vampires, a witch, a hybrid and Jeremy as his best friends, a glass pyramid had become the most interesting thing in his life.

"Mm, I completely agree," he said, absent-mindedly, agreeing with whatever the drunk across the table was rambling about. Something about accidental children being a burden or something. He heard a whistle and looked over to Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes who were sat across the Grill, beckoning him over. He walked around the bar and over to their table. "What's up?" he asked, leaning on their booth.

"Can we get two more shots?" Elena asked, throwing him an innocent smile. Matt nodded, smiling.

"Sure," he said, heading back over to the bar. He hadn't even spoken to Elena in two weeks, and all she could do was ask for more alcohol. He was sure it wasn't her fault. She was caught up in a supernatural love triangle and everyone wanted to kill her for her doppelgänger blood, so he tried to be empathetic about her not having time for him. But he often wondered whether or not he could even still be considered their friend. Or was he just the local bar-tender they were on good terms with? He wouldn't particularly get mad if he was. It had been weeks and he hadn't particularly missed them or their drama. But it would be nice if they could call every now and then.

Matt wasn't supernatural. He was human. The most human human one could find, and that made him unimportant in the lives of his supernatural friends and their supernatural lives. He poured their two shots, taking apart his pyramid, sadly and delivered them to their table. Apparently that was all he was good for these days. Above the sounds of the drunks and dysfunctional, he could still hear Elena and Caroline's conversation as he walked to their table. Just because he didn't have supernatural hearing did not mean he was completely deaf. He could still hear them.

"...No, Caroline," Elena was saying. "Of course not!"

"Why not?" Caroline said, leaning forward and throwing her hands up a little. "Matt might know what the Hell she's-"

"He won't," Elena interrupted. "I've been making sure Matt's left out for a reason. I miss him like crazy, but he's human and deserves a good, long, human life. Don't take that away from him by dragging him back into our mess."

"Matt is in this mess," Caroline said. "Besides, if she's back for-"

"She's not, Caroline!" Elena said. "I'll make sure she's not. Just... trust me on this, okay? Matt deserves better than... _her_."

"Who's _her_?" Matt asked, approaching their table and putting their shots down in front of them. "What aren't I allowed to know?"

Elena and Caroline exchanged looks. "Nothing, Matt," Caroline said. "Don't worry about-"

"No, Care," Matt said. "I'm tired of getting told not to worry about it! It's not like I can't handle it! I'm not a child, and I'm tired of being left out of everything! You guys are my best friends and I want to know what the problem is."

Elena paused before standing up and facing him. "Matt... I know you're not going to want to here this, but getting out of this mess really is the best thing for you. We're all just trying to protect you, and trust me, if you hear about this then you're going to be in more danger than ever. And I love you too much to do that to you."

Matt paused. "Fine. Yeah, whatever." He walked away, back behind the bar and bought out his phone. He sent two texts, one to Tyler and one to Jeremy, both saying the same thing.

 _Hey, what's this gossip I've missed out on? -Matt_

He put his phone down at a bar fight started between to intoxicated idiots who didn't know how to aim a punch. Matt jumped over the bar and split them up before they hurt themselves. He dragged them by the collar of their shirts to the door and threw them out on the street. "Yeah, not in this bar, boys," he called out to them. "Take it somewhere else."

Back inside he read his replies from Tyler and Jeremy.

 _Not sure, haven't heard of anything. Sorry. -Jeremy_

 _Sorry, Bro. It's better you don't know. Don't bother texting Jeremy, he's promised not to tell you anything. -Tyler_

Matt scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning his phone off and sucking his teeth. Okay, what was so bad or so dramatic that his two best friends would lie to him? He knew he hadn't done anything to offend them so they were just doing it for his safety... But telling him the truth couldn't possibly put him in danger right?

Matt closed the bar about five minutes later, ushering everyone out and locking up. He turned to see Caroline on the street next to him. "Hey," she said, smiling. "Look, don't fret about it. Please? It's really not that important and might not concern us at all and definitely not you. We're keeping you in the dark because we love you. Please believe that."

Matt nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

Caroline hugged him and smiled, satisfied. When she pulled away Matt put his stuff away in his truck and drove down to a place he so rarely drove to: The Salvatore Boarding House. During the drive he thought over a list of possibilities of what could have happened. His interest could have been weird, except he knew his friends. He knew the difference between them protecting him and them keeping secrets. And there was a big difference. He pulled up outside the Boarding House and jogged over to the door, knocking twice before waiting. His luck could go two ways. Either Stefan could answer the door and keep further secrets from him or-

"Donovan," Damon smirked, standing in the door frame. "What can I do for my least favourite quarter-back?"

"I need you to tell me what everyone's keeping from me," Matt said.

Damon paused before snickering. Nothing annoyed him more than the oldest Salvatore. He thought he was so witty and charming and sarcastic. But Matt just found him annoying. Like a talkative five-year-old who thought they could do anything because they went poo-poo in the potty.

"Why should I?" Damon asked, crossing his arms.

"Because I'm asking you to?" Matt asked. "And because if you refuse to tell me because you want something in return, then you've become a selfish, manipulative ass-hole. I don't care if you're a guy, Damon, you're still a bitch. And if you refuse to do something for nothing, then you've become what you despise most of all. Katherine Pierce." If having the 500 doppelgänger sit at his bar getting drunk had taught him anything, it was that manipulation was secretly easy.

The vampire paused. "Ouch. Nice speech, but that hit me right where is hurts. Fine. I'll tell you. But only because I'm feeling particularly generous this evening. Particularly Zen."

"So?" Matt asked. "Who's this 'she' everyone keeps trying to hide from me?"

"Basically," Damon said. "Someone spotted Rebekah Mikaelson in town today and she's suspected to be at the old Mikaelson place right now. No idea why she's there but there she is. She's apparently alone. Elena didn't want to tell you because she's afraid you'll run along to your old psycho Barbie girlfriend. That's all I know."

Damon was a dick, but at least he was honest. To some extent. Matt didn't bother thanking him as he climbed back into his truck. Rebekah was back. She had actually bought him that truck after running his first one into a river. Then he had forgiven her and they had spent the summer travelling, bonding and evolving. If Elena, Caroline, Tyler and Jeremy didn't want him in their drama, fine. But Rebekah being back had nothing to do with them. Rebekah was his problem.

Rebekah was just about ready to curl up on the floor and burst into tears. But then she would be sinking to it's level. Her! Her level! Rebekah sighed in frustration as she continued to pace in front of the wailing infant. It had only been a few hours since Klaus had handed his baby girl over to Rebekah, making her promise to keep the baby safe, and five minutes later, the baby was screaming it's – her – little heart out.

And she wouldn't even stop to breath! Rebekah was going insane! If she couldn't handle a couple hours with such a loud child, how could she possibly raise the bloody thing? She had tried everything. She had fed her warmed blood, both animal and human; she had tried to feed her regular baby food; she had checked to see if she needed changing; she had changed her onezie and blanket; she had attempted burping the baby and rocking the baby and making toys talk for the baby – or a sock pulled over her hand. She hadn't yet been toy shopping for the baby, so she had been forced to improvise. The girl was having none of it. There was no way to get the baby to shut up.

"What do you want from me?" Rebekah snapped, turning to the baby who lay on the couch, wrapped up in several blankets. It felt rather strange to be in their old home again. She had missed it a lot. "You want to go home? Well you can't! You want Daddy? Well you can't have him! And I know, darling, it's not bloody fair, but it's the best we can do!"

That only made the baby wail louder. Rebekah sighed again, walking over to the window and looking out of the curtains, always anxious that she would see Dahlia or another of Klaus's enemies walk up her doorstep with a knife in their hands, ready to snatch the baby.

Mystic Falls. Rebekah wouldn't have come home under any other circumstances. It was probably what Dahlia expected the most. It wasn't her plan when she left New Orleans and when she left Mystic Falls, she most certainly wasn't coming back with the baby. She came back for Kol's little black book.

Little black book of witches, that was. He had been more involved with witches than anyone she knew, but unfortunately, he was unable to direct her to the one who could give her the best cloaking spell. Possibly multiple considering Dahlia's power.

She didn't let the baby out of her sight as she searched for the book. She held the girl tightly as she opened cupboards and draws and ran around from room to room. She finally found the damn think in Kol's old sock draw with all but one sock left behind. Rebekah rolled her eyes before tucking the black book into her back pocket. She was about to leave when she noticed something on Kol's bedside table.

Three picture frames, all facing the bed. She vaguely recognised the pictures they held. When Kol had been undaggered for the first time since a century before hand, Rebekah had been briefly alive a couple weeks before. She took it upon herself to introduce Kol and Finn to the land of the modern age and that had included showing them what a 'selfie' was. The first picture was of her and Finn, her lips pressed to his temple and he took the picture. He wasn't always stuck up. The second picture was of Kol forcing Elijah into the image and him smirking as Kol stood next to him with his tongue out. The third picture was Nik, the faintest trace of a smile on his mouth as Kol told him to pose. The pictures were taken shortly after they had all been undaggered, just after Mother had prevented them from leaving Klaus.

Rebekah looked at the pictures for a little while before snatching them all up and taking them back downstairs with her and the baby. She put the girl back down on the couch and threw the pictures into her bag. She started scouring the other draws, cupboards and worktops around the house, looking for similar memories. She found a couple things here and their, throwing them in her bag as she went, listening to the sound of the baby girl crying at the top of her lungs.

She picked the baby up and rocked her, trying to soothe her. She had attempted feeding the baby that refused to be fed, despite the amount of train and aeroplane noises Rebekah made with the spoon. The child just refused to stop crying. "Trust me, I know what you feel like," Rebekah sighed. "I feel like screaming right now as well."

Rebekah ended up smelling the top of the baby's head. It smelled... unique. It was a soft, calming scent that Rebekah hadn't smelled anywhere else, but it reminded her of daisies and daffodils and the springtime. After a while she stopped crying.

She heard a car pull up outside and she immediately panicked. She ran with the baby out of the back of the mansion where she parked her own car and strapped her into the car seat she had bought on her way back to New Orleans after Klaus called her. She used her vampire speed to run back inside and grab her stuff, her large handbag filled with the very bare necessities and ran back outside. She through it into the back-seat with the baby and turned.

She closed the car door and turned – and jumped. Never had she ever been startled by a human who had managed to sneak up on her, but she was then. She was about to punch the human in the face, immediately assuming that it was an enemy, but she stopped herself. "Matt."

"Hey, Beks," he said, smiling weakly.

The windows of her car were tinted so he couldn't see, with his mortal vision, the baby inside her her luggage. He wouldn't know what she was doing. "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same thing," he said. "I mean, I thought you moved to New Orleans with your family. What happened?"

"Well, I moved away for a while," she muttered, thinking about the loft she had recently stayed in in New York, "then I got called back and now I don't really know where I'm going. How did you know I was here?"

"It's the talk of the town," he said. "I mean, everyone tried to hide it from me but I found out and I came straight over."

"Why?" she asked, genuinely oblivious. She was just hoping the baby girl wouldn't start crying again. Then she would have to explain to Matt and the more people who knew, the more likely it was she was going to get caught.

"To say hey," he said. "I was under the impression we were on good terms, I guess I just wanted to catch up."

"But I left," she said, shrugging. "You promised me a summer together. One summer and it was great but it's over and we split up. We are on good terms but we are over."

"But you're back-"

"I didn't come back for you," she said. The sun was beginning to creep over the tree tops. Morning had arrived and the longer she stayed, the closer Dahlia got to her and the baby. "Look, Matt – I really, really have to get going. Like, right now. Don't get me wrong, it's been great seeing you, but I have to go."

"Why?" he asked. "You just said you have no idea where you're going-"

"That doesn't mean I don't have to go," she said. "I didn't say that to be philosophical, I said that because I don't know where to run to!"

"Wait, you're leaving right now?" he asked as she opened the drivers door to her car. There was a barely audible noise coming from inside the car, the sound of a newborn learning how to use it's voice without crying with a bunch of nonsensical sounds. Matt noticed. "Was that a baby?" he asked.

Rebekah sighed, stomping her foot. "Damn it!" she muttered to herself.

"Rebekah, where did you get a baby?" he asked.

She paused, pouting. "It's my brother's. Since Nik made his werewolf side dormant he's been fertile. He knocked up that werewolf, Hayley Marshall. She gave birth but there are too many enemies after her and Nik can't leave New Orleans at the moment so he can't run with her. I had left Louisiana anyway, so it made sense for me to take the baby and run."

"Wait, that's your niece in there?" Matt asked after a pause. "Why couldn't the mother take her?"

"She died in childbirth," Rebekah explained. She had tried to bond with the werewolf because she had been carrying her niece, but it had been hard, and Rebekah wasn't very upset to hear of her death. "Anyway, I have to get this baby far away and under a lot of protection spells. And it's better for you not to get involved."

"You're leaving straight away?" he asked.

She pouted again. She really cared for Matt, but he kept involving herself in her problems and her problems would only get him hurt. "Not yet," she whispered. "I'm running out of infant essentials. This thing eats like she was made for it. I'll be gone in an hour and I suggest you forget I was ever here."

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 **I'll publish the second chapter along with the first one. Reviews make me unimaginably happy so please write one! -Izzy**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so this chapter is tiny! Sorry about that. -Izzy**

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 **Chapter 2**

By the time it was 7am in the morning, Matt had made it home and put a pot of coffee on the boil. He hadn't slept all night, having been working and talking to Rebekah. But he had things to do and one of them did not include nap-time. So he poured himself a large mug of hot coffee and tried to stay awake. There was a knock on the door of his and Tyler's vampire-free house. "Ty?" he called up the stairs. There was no reply so Matt swung the door open.

"Good morning, Matt," Stefan said, standing on the doorstep.

"Morning," Matt said, leaning against the door frame, trying to smile. He liked Stefan. The guy could be kind of an ass sometimes, but overall, he was the only guy left in town that didn't treat him like a complete idiot for still being human. And he was a thousand times better than Damon.

"Can we talk?" Stefan asked. "You don't have to invite me in."

"What do you want to talk about?" Matt asked, already knowing the answer.

Stefan paused. "We just want to know why Rebekah's in town," he said. "Whether or not we should be concerned. If the rest of the Originals are in town. We just want to know what's going on."

Matt nodded. "I just made a pot of coffee. You want me to bring you a mug?"

He did and the two men sat on the porch of Matt's house as Matt began to talk. He told Stefan about Rebekah just passing through and the fact that she would be out of town in less than an hour now. He didn't tell Stefan about Klaus's baby, knowing Rebekah wanted to keep it quiet. He just told Stefan that she was popping in to pick some of her old stuff up and she was going soon.

"Did she say anything else?" Stefan asked, sipping the coffee Matt had bought him and looking at Matt curiously.

Matt shrugged before shaking his head. "No. No, she didn't really want to talk to me."

Stefan gave Matt a brooding, thoughtful look. Matt remembered that Stefan was once in love with Rebekah and still had feelings for her. "But you did?" Stefan asked, pointing. "You wanted to talk to her?"

"There were a lot of things I didn't say," Matt said. "Things I should have told her when she was here. Of course I wanted to talk to her."

"Do you still have feelings for her?" Stefan asked.

Matt nodded. "Of course I do. I really fell for her last Summer and I didn't tell her just how hard I did so."

Stefan was quiet for a long time. Matt wondered what he was thinking. Was he thinking about how crazy Matt was? Did he still love Rebekah, or did he hate her? Was he jealous of Matt's affection toward a girl he still liked? Did he not care? Or was he just too worried for Elena's safety?

"Look, Matt," Stefan said. "Rebekah is incredible. You and I both know that more than anyone. I know what it feels like to be in love with Rebekah Mikaelson. But she's been through a rough history with guys who claimed to love her. Guys who have cheated, lied, quite literally stabbed her in the back. It's gotten to the point where she's too afraid to fall in love again for the safety of whoever she loves because Klaus kills them all before they get the chance to break her heart. Rebekah deserves a break more than anyone."

"Don't worry, I can take a hint," Matt said. "She doesn't want me around."

"That's not what I mean," Stefan said. "I was going to say that you're one of the good ones and Rebekah deserves that. She needs someone like you. And you have been through a lot as well and you deserve someone fun and crazy like her. So find her before she leaves and tell her how you feel. Give her the chance to be with the guy who deserves her for once."

Matt paused, thinking for a minute. "You're right."

 _Baby essentials_ she typed into Google. She stood in the department store in Mystic Falls without a clue what to buy for the baby. She had spent a one-night trip with a car-seat, one onezie, a blanket, a few diapers for changing and tubs of baby food. Now she needed to think about what the baby needed for more than a couple hours. She waited for Google to load and found a pretty straight-forward checklist of things you would need for a newborn.

"Ah," she muttered, walking to the front of the store and swapping the basket for a shopping cart. "Okay," she said, walking to the baby clothing section of the shop. "I got this." She started comparing different pieces of clothing to the baby, taking a moment to think about how it would look on the girl, until she had collected mittens, socks, onezie's, hats, pyjama's and a bunch of other essentials from the list. She was starting to feel more confident. She could do clothes.

She also got a lot of baby bottles and bottle-brushes and something called burping clothes. She got a baby-bathing tub, wash cloths, some baby-wash and some hooded towels which she found adorable. She stocked up on diapers and wipes and a changing-board that she could probably fit in the back of her car. She bought five of everything in the 'health' section of the essentials list, wanting to be on the safe side. The girl was a werewolf/vampire/witch thing, but just in case she didn't have supernatural healing or anything.

Then she moved onto the nice things to have. She bought a changing pad, diaper bag, diaper change pad, a swing/bouncer and play mat, a bunch of baby books and toys. She was pretty confident when she compelled the clerk behind the desk to let her have it all for free.

She was unloading all of the carrier bags into the back of her car, the baby girl sat in the shopping cart when the trunk door hit her lightly on the head. "Ooh," she said, her hand reaching up to the back of her head. Someone lifted it up and out of the way so she could arrange the changing-board around the rest of the stuff. "Matt," she sighed. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't answer straight away. He was holding the door up with one hand and the other hand was being used as a toy by the baby girl who seemed very interested in his fingers. "I needed to see you," he said. "Why do you keep pushing me away?"

 _Because we're magnetic_ , she thought. _And unless I do everything I possibly can to push you away, we'll get pulled together and you'll be dragged right back into my drama and I'll have two people I need to protect and I don't want to put you in danger._ "Because," she said. "I'm too busy to catch up over a coffee. I need to get going. But I can't with you... breathing down my neck."

"So get going," he said. "Take me with you. Just give me a chance."

"What?" she exclaimed, her head whipping around to face him. "Are you serious right now? It was you who insisted whatever happened on the road stays there. What happened to your vampire-free love life? You made it perfectly clear you don't want this life and I can't deal with people who just come and go. Not right now."

"Well then I promise I won't go," he said. "Look, I know I said those things but that was before I... before I fell in love with you. I did, I loved you. And I didn't say it because I only realized that after you left. I'm not over you. And I tried to fight it but I can't, and I don't want to anymore."

There was a long silence when Rebekah finished packing the car and turned to him, shocked. "You loved me?"

"Of course I did," he said. "Anyone who spends the whole summer with you and doesn't fall in love is insane. You're the most beautiful, incredible, alive girl I've ever met."

"I love you too," she whispered after a very long pause. She was a thousand years old, an Original vampire and literally the strongest woman alive (or undead) but at that moment she felt tiny. She had handed her heart over yet again to someone perfectly capable of breaking it. But Matt was different than everyone else. He was careful with her heart, he cared for it more than his own.

"And that's why I'm on board," he said. "With this whole baby thing. Anything you need, anything you want, you got me, okay? I'm coming with you."

Her hand reached up and caressed his cheek, sliding down his face to his neck. "When did you become so smooth?" she asked.

He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Since I spent the last few months planning how I would go to New Orleans and tell you I loved you."

And so Rebekah took Matt with her. A 1000 year old Original vampire and a twenty year old human with no college education and a bar-tending job, neither with any experience as parents, were not the best at becoming them. They sat at an abandoned truck stop, failing miserably at changing a dirty diaper. Rebekah sat in the open trunk, having organized everything in there with the most important things on top and the things they won't need for a while at the bottom. She had a baby book on her lap and was reading it out to Matt, who was the one actually trying to change the diaper.

"No, this flappy bit is supposed to tuck in there," Rebekah tried to explain, pointing to different parts of the diaper.

"That doesn't make any sense," Matt said, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. "How will that change keep the diaper on place? You stick these bits over."

"That's the same thing as what I said," Rebekah exclaimed.

Matt sighed in frustration. "No, you said I had to do this bit up first, and then tuck this under!"

It was their second day on the job and they weren't getting any better. Matt had briefly phoned Caroline at home, but nobody really seemed to care that he had left. He was okay with that.

"That's the same thing," Rebekah groaned, standing up. "Are you done now?"

Matt nodded. "I'm going into the bathroom to wash my hands."

"I'll pack up here," Rebekah said, taking the baby off of the board. They still hadn't began to discuss names for her. It felt wrong. The girl wasn't there kid, but they were her carers. Rebekah couldn't call Klaus without fear of being tracked down so there was no biological parent to consult about names.

Matt washed his hands in the filthy, run-down bathroom before going back outside and meeting Rebekah, who had strapped Hope into the backseat and was tidying up the trunk.

"Here," she said, handing him a tin of Heinz Spaghetti and a spoon. She had her own tin of Heinz Baked Beans and spoon.

"Is this what we have resorted to?" Matt asked, taking his lunch and opening it. "Remember in Paris when we dined at 5 star restaurants with foods we couldn't even pronounce, and now we're at an abandoned truck stop that smells like fish eating cold, tinned spaghetti and beans?"

"Well, when we're on the run, we don't really get to be picky," she laughed, eating a spoonful of beans. "Hey, did you feed the baby or should I?"

He shook his head. "I fed her when you were cleaning up in the bathroom," he said. "No offense, but that didn't make a huge difference. We need to stop somewhere with real showers, because we're both starting to smell like gas. And fish."

"And baby-poop," Rebekah added, pointing her spoon at him. "Thanks again for helping me with all of this by the way."

Matt shrugged. "Well, I was hardly going to let you do this by yourself. So, what's the plan? Where do we go from here?"

"I was thinking about heading back South," Rebekah said. "It's the last thing they'd expect and we could visit Florida or something-"

"I mean in the long-term," he said. "We might end up actually raising this kid. We need someplace to settle down."

Rebekah paused before nodding. "I know. I just keep hoping Klaus will give me a call and tell me it's safe for the baby to go home."

Matt and her swapped tins of food. "So, Florida then? We can get like, a beach house or something. It's not a half bad idea. We'll have to get a lot of protection spells and masking spells and stuff."

"Yeah," Rebekah agreed. "And we'll definitely need a name of some sought. And two birth certificates, one real and one fake, to hide her identity from the public. We'll say her last name is Donovan."

"Great," Matt said. "So what do we do first?"

Rebekah thought for a minute as they swapped food again. "We drive down to Florida, looking for beach houses on the way, while thinking of a name. We'll move, buy more permanent baby stuff and get a couple of birth certificates done up. Search for witches to do some protection spells. Then we learn how to raise a baby."

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 **Please leave me a review. Hours to write, seconds to review! -Izzy**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Thanks for all reading and reviewing! I'm so glad you like it.**

 **Caroline is not going to be a stranger in this story. I don't think I could write a story without a little Klaroline but I was aiming to make this mostly Mabekah. Sorry to dissapoint but don't worry, Caroline will definitely be involved! Thanks for reviewing.**

 **I chose not to keep the name Hope. I never really liked that name and I just couldn't write it. I'm sorry, it just didn't feel right, you know? -Izzy**

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 **Chapter 3**

The next few weeks were the hardest of Matt's life. He had always underestimated how hard caring for a baby would actually be, but now that he was actually half of a carer for such a sweet baby girl, he had a sudden respect for every parent who had so far succeeded in raising a baby. It was so hard.

Rebekah and he stayed in hotels as often as they could risk, but spent most of the night taking driving shifts. Wherever they slept, Matt spent at least half of every night soothing the baby's current problem, and there were always so many.

Rebekah played her part, of course, as the aunt and the carer that the parent actually entrusted, she changed more dirty diapers and soothes more middle-of-the-night cries than Matt did. As they drove, whoever sat passenger had Real Estate sights up and were searching for houses in Florida. He still wasn't sure why they landed on Florida, but their enemies probably would expect them to travel further, to a different country or something so staying fairly close to New Orleans was probably a smart move to manipulate the witches of NOLA.

When they arrived, Matt stayed in a hotel room with the baby as Rebekah met with a real estate agent to compel her way through all of the paperwork. She had left Matt with a list of names and numbers to call about protection spells. He tried to use his good manners and charms to arrange meetings and got successful with five witches out of ten. Great. A good start. Maybe. He wondered how many they'd need.

"Hello?" asked a feminine voice on the other end of the line.

"Hey, my name's Matt Donovan," he said, the phone pressed between his shoulder and ear as he changed the baby into a different pink onezie. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'm calling on behalf of your magical talent."

There was a pause on the other line. "Right. You're another imbecile who wants some spell done. Not interested."

"I'm desperate," he said. "I need help protecting a baby, a newborn-"

"Great, I hope you find help," the woman said. "But not from me. I don't just do spells for random people who ask for them."

Matt sighed as she hung up. It was so hard finding a charitable witch. They all seemed so stuck up and unhelpful. He was beginning to see why Rebekah resented them so much.

There was a knock on the hotel door. "Who is it?" Matt asked, getting to his feet and standing, as if instinctively, in front of the child.

"It's me," Rebekah's voice came. "I forgot my key card and I think breaking the door down would scare the baby."

Matt opened the door for her. "Did you really forget your key-card or are you just rebelling against using them?"

"I'm rebelling," she shrugged, walking past him. "I don't like using cards to open doors. It's not right." She picked the baby up off of one of the two double beds and held her at her hip, against her high-waist jeans. "I also don't like windows that don't open or sheets covered with the battle scars of sex." She held up one of the pillows that had a white stain on the gray silk. "And I think the noise of our neighbors having sex is not what I want the baby to hear every night."

"I get it, Bekah, it's not ideal, but it's going to have to do for now. We don't have much of a choice, do we?"

Rebekah smiled at him, letting the baby fiddle with her blonde hair. "What do you think I've been out all day doing, Matt?"

"You got us a place?" he asked.

She nodded, excitedly. "Beach house, like we said. Loads of room to play. Beautiful view and there's an orphanage a few blocks away so she can play with other kids. It was pricey, but I compelled a bargain. It's going to need more furniture than it's got but in a few months it'll be perfect."

When Rebekah took Matt and the baby there, he had to admit that it looked pretty good. There were six bedrooms, five bathrooms and 3,744 square feet. It was in a private community and through the backdoor of the house were white-sand beaches with tufts of grass and the ocean about forty feet away. It was a new house with new flooring, light fixtures, counter tops, kitchen cabinets, appliances, new paint.

The main living room was open to the kitchen, dining and sitting areas and the kitchen had a breakfast bar and large island and double ovens and granite counter tops. There were two separate desk area's with views of the gulf. There was a wrap-around porch and a terrace on the second floor of the three-story building. At the back of the wrap around porch, there was a dining table with chairs and stairs going down onto the beach.

Each bedroom had a perk. Two of the bedrooms, on the second floor, faced over the gulf and accessed the terrace and one had a on suit bathroom but they were small and had single beds. Two other bedrooms, on the same floor, faced away from the terrace with small balconies and bigger and better bathrooms and double beds. On the third floor, an attic like floor, were two more rooms with no on suit bathrooms but they were the biggest bedrooms yet and had the best views. The two bathrooms that were not on suit were located on the bottom and top floor.

The next month was definitely the busiest of Matt's life, and he suspected, Rebekah's.

The furniture company delivered everything at once and the couple learned how to multitask like pros. They had argued about where everything should go, and what would look best in the best light, and which room the nursery would be in, and they had to remember to feed and change the baby, who was being very inconsiderate and burst into tears whenever Matt and Rebekah debated on where certain couches should go. It took over a month to arrange the furniture perfectly.

Then, there were the protection spells. They collected as many as they could to mask the baby from prying eyes and made a deal with a warlock, August, to refresh them once a year.

"My, my," he had said, holding the girl up to the light. "What beautiful eyes." He was a little creepy with his red blazer, leather pants and spiky black hair. His slanting eyes looked like they were somewhere from Asia, but that could have just been the way his eyeliner was drawn on. "She's got your eyes," he added, handing her back to Rebekah, who sat on his couch with the baby on her lap.

"Yeah, I'm her aunt," Rebekah said, forcing a smile despite her dislike of warlocks.

August narrowed his already slim eyes. "I must ask, out of general curiosity more than concern, am I hiding this baby from her parents?" He seemed only mildly concerned about the kid, as if it was like a pimple in a hidden place. Probably should be taken care of, but not a priority.

"No!" Rebekah seemed shocked he would ask that. "I'm protecting her from her family's enemies."

"Right..." August said, doubtfully. "Either way, I don't particularly care. I expect nothing more from you than our arranged payment. See you next year."

Matt and Rebekah actually had a lot of fun creating the nursery. They painted it light pink with light, wooden furniture, including a chest of draws, a crib and a armchair and frilly, white curtains and table clothes and bed sheets and a thick white carpet. The bedroom they chose for her was on the second floor and lead onto the terrace through French doors. Matt had never seen Rebekah wear scruffy, replaceable clothes before, but to decorate the nursery she wore a white t-shirt with a open, denim blouse and leggings and her hair was up in a messy bun. Matt just wore a t-shirt and jeans and they spent at least half the time flicking paint at each other and laughing.

The baby slept for most of that day and when they weren't decorating they were stood at the door of a bedroom across the nursery, watching it sleep on the double bed. "What should we call her?" Rebekah pondered as they did this. Matt stood a little behind her, looking over her shoulder.

"We can always name her after you," he suggested. "If there's not too much Rebekah in the world already, that is."

Rebekah glared at him until he apologized. "If it was completely your choice, what would you name her?"

Matt paused. "Well if it were my baby... probably Vicki, after my sister. Damon turned her into a vampire and she... she got out of control and Stefan had to... anyway. Vicki's a little to modern for the daughter of a 1000 year old Original."

"We can name her Vicki," Rebekah said, turning to him and trying for a comforting smile. Matt just shook his head.

"We have to remember that we're borrowing this baby," he said. "We'll have to give her back to Klaus, who wouldn't like to have his daughter named after somebody he doesn't know. It'll have to be something original."

After a couple weeks of having the baby, they found the name situation critical. They absolutely had to name her soon, she shouldn't have gone this long without a name. Rebekah had asked Klaus for names before taking her but her brother just shook his head and said he trusted her with the decision.

"What about Aviana?" Rebekah asked. Her and Matt had finished with the nursery and were laying the baby girl down in her new room for the first time. "It's an old English name, a modern blend of Ava and Ana. And I heard a myth that people with this name have the desire to express themselves and make themselves heard." So they decided on Avianna and had two birth certificates drawn up the next day.

They wanted one to use to hide the baby, and one real one. Aviana Rebekah Mikaelson, one of them said. That was the certificate they would have to hide. The other, they used the name Millward to replace Mikaelson on the fake birth certificate. Matt and Rebekah also got a few fake I.D's done up under the same name.

Matt signed up for a few college courses that he could do from home. He chose Sociology and English Language and Litreture. Rebekah decided to sign up for something as well, wondering if she could take the 'normal life' dream all the way. She chose Psychology.

One day, on their fourth week on the job, after they finished decorating and settling and had started looking for jobs so Aviana didn't have to be raised in a whirlwind of compulsion and theivery, Matt and Rebekah had just set her down for a nap when there was a knock on the door. Instantly they panicked, being so on the dge that someone would barge in and try to hurt the baby.

They crept over to the front door from the living room and Matt looked out of the front window before rolling his eyes. He nodded to Rebekah – it was fine. They opened the door to a beaming woman in a yellow cardigan, holding what looking like a basket of home-made muffins. Behind her was an equally happy looking man in a sweater-vest and bowtie. "Hi," the woman said, beaming at them. "We noticed you were new the the neighbourhood and we wanted to wait until you settled in to welcome you!" She held out the basket of muffins.

"Thank you," Rebekah said, making herself smile as she took the basket and shook their hands. Matt also shook hands and he introduced himself and Rebekah. The couple introduced themselves to be Alfie and Kimmy Hood, the neighbours next door. Neither Matt not Rebekah thought much of them, but the made good muffins.

"You'll really like it here," Kimmy was saying. "It's so peaceful. Even in the summer we don't get many tourists up this part of the beach. And everyone's so friendly. Not to many college-kids. Oh, but I suppose you two will be college age, right?"

"More on the older end of college," he said, nodding. "We had to drop out because... well personal reasons."

Kimmy nodded. "Okay, well have fun. And call if you ever need anything." She gave them her number before leaving.

Matt turned to Rebekah, who was looking stressed and worried. "Friendly neighbours," he said, horrifically. "What's next?"

When Matt was left home alone with the baby for the first time, it was their first month into the job. He paced around the living room, Aviana in his arms and a phone pressed between his ear and his shoulder. Rebekah had gone out for groceries and Matt had been searching for jobs all day. He wasn't going to purely rely off the infiniteness of Rebekah's credit card for the rest of his life. He took a break from job-hunting to take a call from one of his best friends.

"Matt," Caroline snapped from the other end of the line. "You can't just take off at random and expect people not to call and ask questions. In fact, you can't just pack up and leave without any explanation at all. That's not how this works Matt, that's not how any of this works."

"'This' being...?"

"Our friendship?" she answered, sighing. "That's not how our friendship works. I demand an explanation. Right now, Matt!"

"I can't exactly give you one," he said. "Look, it's just... a secret, okay? Just because I'm human doesn't mean I need a constant baby-sitter. I'm still an adult and I'm just taking my life into my own hands at the moment. Just trust me enough to know that I'm safe."

"You're with Rebekah, aren't you?" Caroline asked. "Of course you are. She comes into town and you leave with her. Look, Matt. Rebekah's dangerous, she's evil and manipulative-"

"Seriously Caroline?" Matt said. "You're allowed to have you're own opinion about her, but so am I. And if I like her just except that. Rebekah and I have nothing to so with you."

"Defensive, much?" she asked. "Okay, fine. I'm sure you see her differently and I'm not going to judge you or anything. Just trust me enough to be careful around her? And get your ass back to Mystic Falls!"

"I'm not coming home," he said, shrugging. "Not right now and probably not ever. I never dreamed of making it in Mystic Falls, Care. I actually dreamed of making it out. And I'm building a life here, I already have responsibilities. I love you, but I'm just... thinking about myself for a second. Not even myself, I'm thinking about Rebekah."

He heard Caroline sigh on the other end of the line. "Tell me where you are."

"I'm not going to do that," he said. "Rebekah and I are kind of in hiding and the less people who know where the better. Don't take this personally okay?" He looked around as the front door opened and closed. Rebekah walked in, her hands full of grocery bags. "I have to go."

"Wait," Caroline whined. "What am I supposed to tell the others?"

"I doubt they'll care too much," he said. "But tell those who do, say that I moved away. Stop making it into a huge thing. Love you."

"Love you, too," she said, after another sigh. "Do not forget to call me. Often."

"I won't," he promised as he hung up. "Hey," he said, turning to Rebekah. She set the shopping down on the counter and turned to Matt, smiling.

"Hey," she said. "Friends back home worried?"

"Just Caroline," he said. "And I have two missed calls from Bonnie and one from Tyler, but oh well." He put Aviana in her swing/bouncer and walked over to Rebekah to help her unpack the bags. After they finished deciding where everything went Rebekah turned to Matt.

"We need to talk," she said. "About us."

Matt paused. "What about us?" he asked.

"What are we?" she asked. "I know you love me. And you know I love you. We confessed that and said nothing to each other since. We've been sleeping in seperate bedrooms, the only time we talk it's about Aviana. Or Klaus. I want to talk about us."

There was a shot pause before matt cupped Rebekah's face with both hands and kissed her. It was a true, passionate kiss full of love and possibilities. "I love you, Rebekah. I want us to be in a happy, exclusive relationship. What do you want us to be?"

"Happy," she smiled, lamely. "Together."

He kissed her again. "Then we are."

"What happened to a vampire-free love life?" she asked, cocking her head and smirking at him before pouting a little.

"I was... a stupid child when I said that," he said. "Now I'm in love, I technically have a child to raise. Things are different."

"I love you, Matt Donovan. Always have, always will."

So Matt and Rebekah became a couple. It was official for the first time. They held hands, they kissed, they ate together, they bickered about the little things, they they slept in the same bed and Rebekah stole the covers. Her logic was that Matt didn't need them if she just lay really close to him.

Rebekah was afraid that they would instantly turn into boring parents, but they definite didn't. Mostly because they didn't know how to. They didn't know how to soothe Aviana when she screm-cried in the middle of the night but wouldn't eat or drink and didn't need changing. They didn't know how to burp her without hurting her, they didn't know the best way to hold her or in what tone of voice they should read to her at night. And these things, the little things, were what they worried about. They managed not to starve the baby or over-feed the baby.

And when they did get it just right, Matt made sure things still weren't boring.

One night Rebekah came home to find Matt stood by their dining table, with all the lights off and the room illuminated by candles. He had cooked a home-made meal – he was an incredible chef – and he was treating her to an indoor date-night. They didn't want to go out because they couldn't take Aviana but they trusted her with no baby sitter and couldn't leave her alone. So Matt made staying in majestic.

"What's this?" Rebekah asked, her face breaking into a huge smile.

"Ssh," Matt hushed. "Avi's asleep. Don't ruin the quiet!"

So they ate, laughing about the fact that they had to talk quietly as to not wake the baby. And then Matt slow-danced with Rebekah in the living room in the light of the candles.

They ended up in Aviana's room, watching the baby girl sleep soundly. Matt was behind Rebekah with his arms around her and his chin leaning on her shoulder. "Isn't she beautiful?" Rebekah muttered, holding onto Matt's arms around her waist.

"Yeah," he replied. "She looks like you. She has your eyes and your jaw."

There was a pause. "Shit, she's waking up!" Rebekah whispered, pulling Matt down to avoid the baby seeing them. If she saw them, she would hold onto them for hours. The couple was silent for a few seconds, sat on the floor with their backs against the crib and terrified expressions, hoping the baby wouldn't wake. They were too happy to let their evening be currupted by a wailing baby.

"I'm just glad," Matt whispered, when neither of them heard any more signs that Aviana was waking, "that we haven't fatally messed up yet."

"I think," Rebekah whispered, "that under the circumstances, we have done exceptionally brilliant. I wouldn't have been able to do this without you. Thank you, Matt."

"I love you," he smiled.

"I love you, too."

They had a few more nights like that. Movie night, which mostly consisted of Disney movies with Aviana, who didn't understand them yet but seemed to like the colours; Game night, which was basically Matt and Rebekah playing with puppets to make Aviana happy.

Matt soon got a job in a beach bar not to far away from home with part-time Lifeguard shifts. Might as well stick to something he knows until he leaves college, right? And he knew bartending from his old job and lifeguarding from his summers with Bonnie. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get through college and raise Aviana in a life that was not a whirlwind of compulsion. Rebekah also was thinking about getting a job. Something about raising Avi to be modest.

Yeah, given the circumstances, they were doing great.

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 **I chose the name Aviana because I found it and thought it was beautiful. Sorry if you don't like it, I just thought it was pretty. But please let me know what you think! I love reading your opinions in the reviews! -Izzy**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all! Usually I update faster than this but when I sat down to write I found an extreme lack of inspiration. Sorry.  
**

 **Okay, in answer to mixed reviews, Klaroline _will_ be a small feature in later chapters. The first few will mostly be Mabekah family fluff and Matt/Rebekah will always be the main ship of this story. I am writing a Mikaelson Family/Kalijah/Klaroline fanfic that you can find in my stories and there is an AMAZING story written by _Quills And Inkwells_ about Caroline raising Hope. It's called _Always been a Daughter_ , however this one is mainly Mabekah. **

_**PLEASE READ: I do not own the specific quotes in Italics. Those quotes are copied word-for-word from the television show The Originals and are not mine. The other quotes are mine. The characters aren't. Neither are the quotes in italics. Thanks.**_

 **-Izzy**

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 **Chapter 4**

Aviana had developed a social smile. A special facial expression of happiness that lit up her whole face that she reserved only for when she saw Matt or Rebekah. It was completely adorable and Rebekah loved playing peek-a-boo just to see that smile appear over and over again. Matt had gone out to work, and maybe it was a little stereotypical that Rebekah was the one to stay home with Avi, but she didn't mind. She didn't work because she didn't have to, or want to. So what if Aviana was raised to be a little selfish and a little dependant on compulsion?

If Rebekah had been asked a couple years ago where she saw herself in 2012, she would not have said: in a nursery, making puppet monsters talk to each other. But then again, what felt like a couple years to her was about 90 years for humanity. She missed the twenties...

Anyway, she was playing with the puppets, entertaining an intruiged looking Aviana during her 4th month of parenting when the little princess lit up and laughed for the first time. Rebekah gasped, watching how the adorable giggle igniting her big blue eyes. Rebekah began laughing a little herself as she turned to call Matt before remembering he was at work. She pulled out her phone and turned on the camera, making Aviana more confused than humoured.

"Laugh again," Rebekah whined. She picked up the puppets and started doing what she did with them before and in no time Avi was giggling again. She got a couple minutes of footage, of Rebekah making her laugh again and again before putting her phone away and picking up her niece. "I love you so much!" Rebekah said, beaming. "You may not know it yet, but I do."

When Matt came home Rebekah showed him the video of Aviana laughing and Matt was in awe of the level of adorableness of the baby girl. They sat Avi on the play matt and played with her for about an hour, intruiged by her laugh. It may not have been a huge deal for many, but it was for them. Their baby girl was laughing. She was happy.

That night Rebekah sat with Avi in the rocking chair in her nursery. Matt was making a pot of tea downstairs and she was about to join him, just after she put the baby to bed. She was thinking about Klaus and how upset he had been to hand his daughter over to Rebekah, trusting her with everything down to her name. She looked over to the dresser where she saw the framed pictures of Kol's selfies that she had taken from her old home in Mystic Falls. She wanted Aviana to grow up knowing her family, knowing who and what she was. So when the time came, and she met her father, she wouldn't be scared. It would be like reuniting with an old friend.

" _Once upon a time, there was a majestic King,"_ Rebekah said, rocking the baby as she started the story in a soft, soothing voice, " _who lived with his brother in a colourful kingdom where music and art were celebrated."_ She wanted Avi to know of New Orleans, Klaus's kingdom. She wanted her to know Elijah as well and she would never forget to tell Avi of the noble knights: Finn, Kol and Henrik. But now was time for a story about Klaus. " _The King did not foresee having a child, but he lived in an enchanted land where all things were possible. In time he was blessed with a beautiful baby daughter, for whom he wished only peace and happiness."_ Noticing how sleepy Avi was getting, Rebekah got up to walk her over to the crib. " _Still the King had demons who pursued him. There was a ruthless beast who wanted to take the kingdom for her own. Armed with a pack of untamed creatures, she drove the other magical creatures from the land. And there was a wiked sorceress who had magic stones that weakened the King on every full moon."_ Rebekah lay the little toy Klaus had once given her next to Aviana. She wanted her niece to have it. It was a family gift that she was passing along. " _Seeing the shadows the demons cast upon his home, the King was driven to send his beloved Princess away, convincing all who remained that she was forever lost. The King, in his sorrow, turned away from the world, the castle closed it's doors and the kingdom fell. Some say that the only light that shines in the castle illuminates the shadow of the once-mighty King in a room meant for his child. But as the ruthless beast took rule over the fallen King's realm, little did they know that the King and his brother would not rest until their enemies were vanguished. For they believed, one day, they would heal their kingdom and bring their Princess home. So that she might live happily ever after."_

Rebekah barely knew what was happening in New Orleans, but she knew the basics and she knew Klaus and Elijah. She knew what they would do and how they would react. She left Aviana, fully asleep, and turned off the light of the nursery, leaving her with the little toy Niklaus had once given her. She had kept it for 1000 years as a memory of who she once was. Who they all once were. She turned to see Matt, holding a cup of tea out for her and smiling weakly. "Thanks," she said, taking the tea and trying to return the smile.

"You alright?" he asked.

She nodded, bravely. "Yeah. I really am."

The next month passed and Matt and Rebekah fell into a routine that was almost normal. Matt went to work every morning and came home mid-afternoon. Rebekah took care of the baby as she studied until then. They played with and cared for Aviana. Matt studied in his free time and if the baby was quiet for an evening, Rebekah and Matt would do something romantic. At home of course, they couldn't go out and leave the baby. Or take the baby.

One saturday afternoon, five months into the job, Matt and Rebekah were rolling around their bed, making-out and sliding their hands under several pieces of clothing, Rebekah occasionally giggling when Matt did something that tickled. She was about to take off his pants and get serious when a small cry came from the room opposite. The couple paused, waiting. They listened to see if the cry was going to blow up into a temper-tantrum but after a few seconds silence they resumed making out. After a couple seconds of fun, there was another cry. They pulled apart, knowing it wasn't a problem unless the crying increased. They were about to blow it off as nothing again when Aviana started wailing. The couple sighed, walking into the other room to see what the problem was. Really there was no problem. Avi just missed them. So Rebekah held her and rocked her for a while as she played with Rebekah's hair and Matt stood on the other side of the baby, playing with her tiny fingers.

As the first six months past, Rebekah and Matt turned to arguments. They started bickering about everything from what to watch on TV, to full blown arguments about what to feed Aviana. They started out just little things but grew into riots.

Rebekah did some research and figured they were in the 'power struggle' stage of the relationship. Of course, Matt had more sense that to knowingly challenge her authority, but this was the part where they determined, with shouting and anger, what kind of couple they were going to be.

One time, Rebekah voiced the thought that Avi was looking a bit chubby and that started an argument.

"She's a baby," Matt was yelling, half an hour into the fight. "She's allowed to be chubby! All babies are chubby!"

"She's six months old," Rebekah replied. "And she a few pounds above the should-be weight-"

"Should-be weight?" he exclaimed. "That means nothing! She's perfect the way she is!"

"I didn't say she wasn't," Rebekah yelled. "I was just going to suggest that maybe you should stop shoving a spoon in her mouth whenever she cries."

"I am not overfeeding the baby," he said defensively.

"Yes you are," she said. "For health reasons you need to stop it." Matt kept trying to get a word in but Rebekah continued on a rant pointing out all his flaws one by one until she were interrupted by the sound of Aviana, crying in her swing/bouncer about their argument. She hated nothing more than to see either Matt or Rebekah unhappy. Matt walked over a picked her up, soothing her crying. There was a five minute pause as Matt comforted the baby and Rebekah angrily paced.

"I am sorry for making it sound like I was judging a baby by her weight. That's not what I meant at all," Rebekah said. "I'm just concerned for her health. It did sound like I was being mean about it. I'm just stressed."

"I'm sorry for taking it to heart," he said. "I understand what you mean, maybe she could lose a couple pounds."

"No," Rebekah said, shaking her head. "A chubby baby's the best kind of baby."

And with that fight they were pretty much out of the power struggle.

After the first six months they encountered another problem. "Aviana's teething," Matt told her one night as he walked back into their room in the middle of the night. He had just went to calm Avi who had burst out crying and woken them up.

"Oh God," Rebekah mumbled, only slightly awake. "How long will that last?"

Matt shrugged. "Undetermined."

So the next few months were rough. They would listen to Aviana cry about the pain of teething, even though they did everything the baby books suggested about easing the pain. She spent endless hours crying and not getting a single tooth.

Eventually her teeth began to come through, normal baby teeth. Rebekah noticed that where her Canine teeth were were tiny, little pointy fangs. A baby with fangs! So she did inherit some vampiric traits. Rebekah wondered what else she had inherited. She didn't seem interested in drinking any blood, but she was only a quarter vampire. She hadn't showed any signs of turning into a wolf on the full moons, even though she was three-quarter werewolf. Rebekah wondered if she would develop these skills over time, like puberty or something.

Great, on top of explaining sex, body-changes and possibly periods, Rebekah would have to explain that turning into a wolf on the fullmoon was perfectly normal.

There were a few more perks though, within those months. For example, Aviana learned how to crawl. She was with Matt at the time, playing on the play mat when Rebekah came home from buying stuff for her college courses and she got on all fours and spontaneously started crawling over to greet her. Matt had quickly pulled out his phone to film it. When the time came to give Avi back to her father, and to introduce her to Uncle Elijah, they wanted to be able to show them the most magical moments of Aviana's life so hopefully, they could make them feel like they were there.

There were more and more magical moments everyday. The time Matt gave Avi her first bowl of spaghetti and had to clean it off the ceiling; the time she hit Rebekah on the head with a lego piece over and over again until it got tangled in her hair and Matt had to help her get it out.

One day Rebekah, Matt and Aviana sat out on the beach behind their house, just enjoying the sun and the peace and the sound of the ocean as they lamely sat on a blanket in silence. Aviana was surrounded by a collection of toys that she was playing with. She had learned to sit up straight by that point. At one point, this incredibly annoying woman bounced over with her small son and crouched down. "Oh look how cute you are," she cooed to Aviana who just gave her a confused look with her big blue eyes. The woman turned to Rebekah and Matt and smiled. "Wittle Feather here was just so fwustwated that she weft her toys at home, and since it's bad for one baby to have too many toys as it causes lack of social skills and attention spam later on in life, if maybe our wittle Feather could borrow some of your toys?"

Rebekah and Matt exchanged a brief, mildly angry look before turning back to the woman. "Yeah, I was just talking to our baby as well," Matt said. "She couldn't believe someone had the nerve to come up to two random strangers and condescend them as they judged their parenting skills."

"Yeah," Rebekah added. "She's also thanking me because I didn't call her Feather."

The woman stormed away looking very offended and Matt and Rebekah just turned to each other before laughing. "I love out family," Rebekah said. And that was the first time it kind of hit Matt. They were a family. Him, Rebekah and Aviana. This wasn't a temporary arrangement anymore, this was his life.

Soon after Aviana said her first word. Rebekah had gotten into the habit of retelling some of her favourite family stories in the form of fairytales. One night Rebekah was looking at the picture of Klaus as she crouched by the crib and told a story from the 17th century. Avianna slowly and quietly lifted up one chubby fist and pointed to the picture as she muttered: "King."

Aviana soon learned how to walk as well. One day when Rebekah mentioned bath-time, Aviana stood up and tried to walk away, as if planning to escape. She really didn't like bathtime. Luckily they didn't have to try to make her redo it, as Rebekah had just been randomly filming. It was probably good to record random baby moments as well as the big stuff and that time she caught Avi's first walk on tape.

When her first birthday came around Aviana had learned to respond to her own name. They mostly just bought her a lot of new toys and some light-weight cake to celebrate her being able to handle solid foods. Matt and Rebekah realised that when they said her name, called her Aviana or Avi, she would turn to look at them or try to walk over. In Rebekah's eyes, she was one step closer to knowing who she was.

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 **Sorry this chapter was short, usually I write longer ones but again, the inspiration wasn't great. This will be the last Baby!Aviana chapter and next will be about her toddler life/early childhood.**

 **Thanks for such lovely reviews, please give me some feedback! -Izzy**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all! So I had nothing else to do today and was in a very Mabekah-ey mood so I worked on this chapter.  
**

 **So Avi is 3-4 in this chapter but it's not really focused on her but more on Mabekah.  
**

 **I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! -Izzy**

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 **Chapter 5**

Rebekah had had a long day. Aviana had woken her up at 3am because she had a nightmare and Rebekah had stayed up to talk to her about it. Before she could coax Avi back to sleep, it was time for her to wake up anyway.

So she got up, took Aviana downstairs and made her breakfast as she turned on Clifford the Big Red Dog for her to watch as she ate. Matt came down shortly after in the dark shirt and tie of a police officer.

His cop badge was already attatched and he looked around for his hat before realising Rebekah was wearing it as she watched him, giggling. He smirked, making a reach for it. She took it off and reached around him, throwing it and catching it in her other hand. They ended up doing this little dance as Rebekah teased him with the hat, holding it just out of reach every time and never letting him have it. Eventually he did outsmart her and take the stupid hat away, but he just threw it over his shoulder like it was completely unimportant and pulled her in for a kiss instead.

Matt had gone off to work in the Police Department he had gotten a job in a couple years before hand. It was 2015, and Matt had turned 23. He had left college and gotten a job as a Cop.

So he had left that morning and Rebekah had dropped three-year-old Aviana off at a Preschool where she spent only a few days a week when both Matt and Rebekah had to work.

Yes, Rebekah had gotten a job of her own. At first when Matt had left every morning to fight crime around Florida, she had been incredibly bored. What was she supposed to do all day? Babysitting Avi had become almost nightmarous and she needed a break to be an adult. She she had taken up a job of her own. A Fashion Designer.

It sounded quite lame at first, be she was good with fabrics and colours and clothes designs. She had spent 1000 years watching the evolution of clothing so it had become a hobby of hers anyway. Something interesting and something she was good at. She never thought of fashion as something shallow, but instead a type of art she had been studying for longer than anyone else.

Her office was in chaos. She had a run-way show presenting her new line in a few days and everybody was overly stressed about it. "That's not my dress," she had to yell at on of the ignorant minions styling one of her models. "It's completely see-through! I know about lining! Where did you even get this?"

She spent the rest of her work day running around screaming "No, no, no!" and "Stop!" like her employees were Aviana when she needed to be sent to the naughty corner or was having a temper tantrum.

Somehow she made it through the day without breaking down. When she got out of work she went immediately to the nursery to pick up Avi before driving her down to August the Warlocks home. It had been a almost a year since their last spell concealing Aviana from tracking magic and Rebekah wanted to get the next spell done early as August was visiting England for a few months as of next week. She sat, stressed about work as she tried to get Avi to keep calm as August did his magic.

"Mama," Aviana asked as Rebekah carried her on her hip out of August's house, unlocking her car with a button from 12 feet away. "Why can't I see my eyes?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes. She had gotten into the habit of calling her 'Mama'. In a way, Rebekah was sought of an adoptive parent, but Aviana did know she wasn't her biological mother. Quite often Avi called her 'Auntie Mama' or something like that. She also referred to Matt as 'Dada' but she also knew about Klaus and often told people she had two father's and one mother which confused them.

"Because they're shy," Rebekah said, making up a stupid answer for one of Avi's collection of cute but silly questions. "They're shy so they hide from you."

"But I'm not scary," Aviana said confused as to why her eyes didn't want her to see them.

Rebekah sat her down in the back of her car and knelt down. "Sweetheart, you know how sometimes you call me 'Mama' and sometimes you call me 'Auntie'?"

Aviana nodded. "Because you are both!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Rebekah smiled, beaming at her daughter. She had long since come to terms with that fact that she would always see Avi as her daughter, even if she was just her neice. "Why don't you ever call Matt Uncle?"

Avi paused for a second. She had become almost fluent in the English language and was pretty advanced for a child of her age in conversations. "Because I have Uncle Elijah and Kol and Finn so there is no room for another one."

Rebekah smirked. She considered her three brothers to be her uncles even though she had never met them and two of them were dead. "But you already have Klaus as your Dada, so why is there room for Matt?"

She counted something slowly on her fingers before replying. "Because 3 uncles is too much. But I can have two Dada's because it is bal...anc...ing the scales." She sounded the word 'balancing' out as she spoke and Rebekah was instantly proud of her for being able to talk so well for a three-year-old. "Sammy at nursery had two Dada's."

"Who's Sammy?" Rebekah asked, getting into the front seat after buckling Avi and and turning in her seat to look back at her.

"Sameera," Aviana said, as if the answer should be obvious. "She has two Dada's."

When they got home she kicked off her heels and changed into legging and a tank to – something more comfortable. She also changed Avi out of the yellow dress she wore to preschool and into pyjama's. She really did look beautiful. She had inherited Klaus's and Rebekah's similar eyes, but they were more like Klaus's. And she seemed to have similar cheekbones to her father as well. She had Hayley's dark hair which just fell to her shoulders at the moment.

Rebekah put on a Disney movie for Avi to watch as she escaped to the kitchen to fish a blood-bag out of the fridge. Avi wasn't allowed in the fridge as a general rule. Rebekah had first considered leaving the house at night to feed to avoid being seen by Avi and having the little girl become scared, but if Avi ever did get the thirst for blood, Rebekah wanted her to be sure it wasn't something to be afraid of, or ashamed of. Being related to vampires was part of who she was and Rebekah wanted her to understand that.

Rebekah then had to take about a thousand business calls while comforting Avi who was crying as she watched _The Lion King_.

Matt came home shortly after, but half an hour later than usual, and ordered take-out. Usually one of them would cook but both were too tired. After Avi ran off to recreate the movie with her toys, something she was very fond of doing, Matt and Rebekah sat on the couch and Rebekah put her feet in his lap. He picked them up and massaged them one by one as she told him about her stressful work and busy day.

"You're too good to me, Matt Donovan," she sighed, leaning back. "So how was your day?"

"Good," he said. "I beat up a jewellary store thief who tried to run away."

"Is that why you're home late?" she asked.

He paused, shaking his head. "No. No, I- Oh, dinner's here."

The small family of three sat around the small dining table and ate Pizza as they talked about their day. Aviana told a story about playing with Sammy at Preschool. Rebekah told Matt how Avi referred to him as 'Dada' because she already had too many uncles.

After dinner Matt suggested a walk on the beach, just him and Rebekah. He put Aviana to bed and Rebekah changed out of her pyjama's and into something a little more _walk on the beach in the middle-of-the-night_. She wore a short, flimsy white dress with a few buttons and a belt around her middle. Matt had taken off his badge and tie so he was just wearing a dark shirt and pants. He took her hand and lead her out onto the beach.

At first they had been terrified of leaving Avi by herself, but the beach was no problem. It was just in their backyard for one thing, and Rebekah constantly was using her vampire-hearing to check that she was still safe and still sleeping.

"So are you going to tell me why you were late home now?" Rebekah asked, her arm linked through his as they walked down the beach. The sun was just setting over the ocean and the scene was incredibly romantic.

"I found this cute little spot I wanted to show you," he said. "It's a surprise."

She pouted. "I don't like surprises, Matt," she said.

"You'll like this one," he promised. "...Hopefully."

He lead her to a collection of trees at the edge of their little slice of beach. There was a small path with lit candles on either side, illuminating the dark tunnell of trees. "What's this?" she asked as he began to lead her down the path.

"Just trust me," he said. He lead her down the path for about two minutes until the reached a tiny little clearing surrounded by a circle of rocks. On the rocks were collections of lit candles, which were also dotted around the little scene, illuminating it with the help of six or seven tiki-torches around the center, where there would usually be a bonfire for people to sit around but instead there was a collection of cusions. There were also occasional pictures of Matt and Rebekah, the best pictures from the last three years, as well as some of their tourist-y pictures from their trip around the world.

"What the Hell is this?" Rebekah said, shocked as she looked around the romantic setting, the lights, the whole scene.

"This is why I was late home," he said. "I was setting this up."

"But... what is this?" she asked.

He smirked a little. "This is how you and me get the full experience of humanity. I was in that jewellery store today and I saw something..." he pulled out a little black box from his pants pocket and Rebekah's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. She wanted to say something but she was speechless. "And it made me feel like an idiot, really. Because it's been three years and I still haven't done this." He looked into her shocked, slightly nervous, blue eyes and continued. "Because my life hasn't been the same since I met you. This is not how I planned this happening at all. My life, I mean. I didn't see myself with you, hiding a child from the supernatural monsters of the world. There are many different ways to be happy in life, but all I need and all I want is you. And our story may be an extremely unusual romance, but I want to start writing our happy ending together." He paused for a second, carressing her cheek. "You have been through so much pain over the last 1000 years and you deserve someone who will love you, respect you and treat you like the Queen you are. Please, Rebekah Mikaelson," he said before beginning to get down on one knee. "Let me be the one to love you like that." He held up the little box as tears welled up in her eyes. "Will you marry me?"

The tears in her eyes spilled over and her hands shot up to cover her mouth. In the box was a classic pear-shaped diamond engagement ring, worth at least a few thousand dollars.

She began nodding as she held out her hand for Matt to slip the ring on her finger. In her daze of blinding happiness all she could say was: "Yeah."

Matt laughed a little, slipping the ring onto her finger. "Yeah?"

"Yes," she corrected, beaming. "Yes, _oh my God, yes_!"

-0-0-0-0-0-

And so the wedding planning began. Rebekah made a wedding folder with her plans and arrangements and was often helped by Aviana who enjoyed the whole prospect of a wedding. The two of them had a lot of fun creating collages for scrap-book like pages with different dresses and cakes and invitations.

The wedding party was a lot harder to arrange. Since everyone she loved was left behind, her and Matt had to pick from the people they had grown to like since they moved to Florida. Matt picked his partner from work, Caleb, to be his best man. Rebekah chose Kimmy, the neighbour who she had become fairly close with over the years, and a few friends from work to be her bridesmaids. Aviana was definitely going to be the flower girl. Back home Rebekah probably would have asked Elijah or Klaus to give her away but in Florida, they were unable, and unsafe to contact either of her brothers. So Rebekah would be walking down the aisle alone.

They also started the guest list, inviting all of Matt and Rebekah's friends from work, some neighbours. Matt and Rebekah and Avi spent the weekends looking at venues and listening to different bands and DJ's, picking out their favourites to reserve. They also found their favourite officiant and booked him for their date.

They started researching florists, photographers and caterers which Aviana was very excited about. She loved pointing out which flowers and pictures looked the prettiest and which food tastes the best. She actually had a good eye for photo mistakes and gave some surprisingly helpful advice. Rebekah guessed she got some artistic skill from Klaus.

Once they hired their favourites, the day to pick out the dress had come. Kimmy, the friendly neighbour who Rebekah had become friends with, sat on one of the chairs, sipping champagne and entertaining Avi as Rebekah tried of dress after dress. "I could just design one of my own," Rebekah suggested. "But I have no idea what I want."

"That one is incredible," Kimmy said as Rebekah left the changing room in a lacy, mermaid dress. "You look like a princess."

"You said that about the last dress," Rebekah said, rolling her eyes.

"Mommy doesn't look like a princess," Aviana said, rolling her own eyes, like Rebekah as she crossed her arms. "She is a queen!"

Rebekah blushed as she kept picking out dresses.

Matt and Rebekah picked out the prettiest, fanciest invitations and sent them out to everyone on the guest list.

The couple both wanted a honeymoon but they knew they couldn't go away without Aviana. They considered bringing her with them or taking time off work and having a honeymoon at home. Instead, one day, the answer just fell into their laps.

Rebekah was picking up Avi from Preschool, which she was coming to the end of as she would soon be in Kindergarten. Before Avi came out of the building to where Rebekah was waiting, she was approached by a man in a bright yellow shirt. He introduced himself as Callum, one of the fathers of Sammy, the little girl Avi always played with. He was telling Rebekah about all of the wonderful things Sameera said about Aviana and congratulated her on the wedding. He wondered if Avi wanted to have a play date, or stay around some time.

"It'll be fine," Rebekah found herself assuring Matt as they cleaned up in the kitchen after dinner that night. "I mean, nobody has come close to finding Aviana since we got here and that's not because of us, that's because of the billion protection spells we cast over her. Those spells will still work at another house! It'll only be for a few days and we'll call her every night. Callum said he'd be more than happy to look after her for a few nights."

"He's Sameera's Dad," Rebekah said. "Or one of them. She was adopted, her two father's are both in a relationship. Anyway, apparently her and Avi have been close friends since they started Preschool. So we enhance the protection spells for good measure and nobody will be able to find her. It'll be safe, I promise! Besides, we could also hire a witch to watch over her, or I could turn some vampires and compell them to keep her safe."

Matt sighed. "Okay, sure. I trust you, whatever you want."

After the Honeymoon to Hawaii was booked and planned, Rebekah had the bridesmaid dresses to sought out. She had three bridesmaids and Aviana to plan with. She got everyone fitted for a fancy, lilac silk dress that came to their knees and let Aviana where a frilly, lilac princess dress that she fell in love with because it reminded her of Disney's Rapunzel.

Then Rebekah and Matt met up with the officiant and planned out the ceremony and venue using a bunch of diagrams. They then reserved structural and electrical necessities, arranged transportation, arranged a time-plan of the entire day.

Matt and Rebekah and Aviana then spent a day selecting and ordering the perfect cake, a four-tier Victoria Sponge with white icing and decorative roses falling from the top to the bottom.

Then there were the dress fittings, music planning, finalization of the music plans, readings, order of the ceremony and recption. They designed the menu cards, and purchased the rings. They had them engraved with the words _Always & Forever_. Then they met the photography at the venue and sent out the wedding invitations.

One month before the wedding they finished planning and checking their very final arrangements for the wedding.

Finally the day came.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Seven months after they engagement in the month of November 2012, four-year-old Aviana found herself walking down the aisle of a large, clear Lilac tent in the beach as a crowd of people stood infront of their chairs. Avi through flower petals around, her face breaking into a huge smile as he perfectly curled brunette hair bounced, her lilac dress making her look like the little princess she was.

Matt waited at the end of the Aisle under an arch of purple flowers, beaming at Aviana and winking at her as he waited for Rebekah. Rebekah walked down the aisle and Matt's eyes widened.

The white dress Rebekah wore was very lacy and had a sweet-heart neckline and shoulder-less lace sleeves down to her wrists. There was a flare to her skirts that was nothing majorly extravagent but poofy nonetheless. Her beautiful face was hidden behind the veil with the comb in her up-do hair.

She made it to the end of the aisle without crying and held Matt's hands as the officiant started talking. Rebekah lifted both her and Matt's hand to wipe a happy tear off her cheek and he ended up having to do the same. Honestly, he rarely cried, but it was his wedding and he was marrying the most perfect woman on Earth.

They both said their vowels, both about being two opposites who found love in a relationship that was supposed to be hateful.

"Do you, Rebekah, take Mathew to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the officiant asked.

"I do," Rebekah said.

"Do you, Mathew, take Rebekah to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the officiant asked.

"I do," Matt said.

"Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Matt didn't even wait for the officiant to finish saying "You may now kiss the bride" before he took Rebekah in his arms and dipped her, pulling her in for their first kiss as a married couple.

And everyone went onto the dance floor and Rebekah went to go and check on Aviana. Matt was pulled aside by a very unexpected guest.

"Matt," Caroline sighed. She was dressed for a wedding in a very smart, dark blue dress. "Congratulations!"

"Wait, what are you doing here?" Matt asked, shocked.

"Quietly crashing," Caroline said. "I'll leave in a second if you want. Why didn't you invite me to your wedding, Matt? We've been friends since forever!"

Matt sighed. "If I had invited you I would have had to invite Elena and Bonnie and Bonnie would have bought Jeremy, and Elena would have bought Damon, who Rebekah used to have a thing with so he is definitely no welcome here. Which, by the way, is one in many reasons why you can't be here. No exes at a wedding. But if Elena and Damon had both come then Stefan would have came, and he actually used to be inlove with Rebekah. Then Tyler would have found out and came, and everyone from Mystic Falls would be here. And I didn't invite _any_ of you for a reason!"

"Because of the kid?" Caroline asked, gesturing to Aviana who was at the buffet table with Rebekah.

"No because – wait, yeah. How do you know about that?" Matt asked.

Caroline shrugged, poker-face. "I figured it out. I see the way and and Rebekah look at her, like she's your daughter somehow, but I can't figure out the 'how'. So I figured that's why you left, you had to hide the daughter. You left about four years ago which is how old the girl looks."

"Technically she's not ours," Matt said. "How did you even find out about this wedding?"

"I tracked you down to Florida and I happened to have heard about the wedding from some people who were invited," she said. "They were talking about it in a bar."

"How did you track us down to Florida?" Matt asked. "It's important."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Well after four years of trying, I noticed Rebekah's name on some website. Fashion website, she just got her own line. It's under a different last name of course, _Rebekah Millward Designs_. But nobody spells their name R-E-B-E-K-A-H anymore so I followed a hunch."

"That's it?" Matt asked, sighing. "Okay, good. Look, you can't tell anyone where we are or about the child, okay?"

"Why?" Caroline asked. "Who's kid is it?"

"I can't tell you that," Matt said. "You just have to keep it a secret. For her safety, okay? Please Caroline?"

She paused before sighing. "Fine, I'll keep it a secret. And don't worry, I'll be gone by tomorrow. I just wanted to send my congratulations and, oh I don't know, maybe see one of my best friends for the first time in four years!"

"Unexpectedly. At my wedding. Which you weren't invited to."

She shrugged. "Why are you being so mean about it? Look, I'm sorry for gate-crashing your wedding!"

Matt sighed. "Look, just promise to keep this all a secret. Everything. Pretend you didn't even find us. And for the record, some people still do spell their name R-E-B-E-K-A-H nowadays."

"Fine, whatever," Caroline sighed.

"Hey," Matt said, in a lighter mood. "It's really cool to see you again."

Caroline was about to say something else when Matt was called onto the dance floor to share his first dance with Rebekah as husband and wife. He completely forgot about Caroline as he took Rebekah into his arms and began dancing with her.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Rebekah had turned the worst crooks around town into vampires and compelled them all to watch over and keep Aviana safe while her and Matt was gone. She also paid a witch to watch over her and had all of the protection spells enhanced.

After dropping Aviana off at her friends house for the next week, assuring she was safe there, doing a background check on her friend's parents, calming Rebekah down after she had three panic attacks about leaving Avi for the first time, Matt finally managed to get them both on a plane on their way to Hawaii for their honeymoon.

* * *

 **Caroline was only really a guest in this chapter. She never really comes and stays but she will flick in and out occasionally until later in the story.**

 **Please review! I love hearing from readers! -Izzy**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, I know this chapter is really short, but it was all I could do today and I really had to update today because everytime I close the Word Document this is saved on, I open it back up and it automatically changes all of my punctuation into Chinese letters and it's a real bugger having to go back and change it all again.**

 **Also, sorry this update took so long. And it's really short. I'm sorry, I need to get my shit together. Anyhoo, enjoy! -Izzy**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Shortly after the wedding, Matt turned.

Had had asked Rebekah for it, for her to turn him into a vampire and he had been very skeptical about it. "I don't want to take away your humanity Matt," she had said. "I never have! I want you to grow up, live a full life, have everything you wanted-"

He just rolled his eyes. "I have that now! You are everything I ever wanted Rebekah, and I'm married to you. We already kind of have a kid together! And I certainly don't want to grow old without you. I want to be with you forever. I'm 23 now, I'm old enough to make my own decision about this."

He convinced her he was sure about it, but she needed the next month to decide whether or not she was sure about it. She had fallen in love with him because he was human. In the end she cut over her wrist and he drank her blood and she snapped his neck.

He had everything he had ever wanted out of life and he didn't want to leave his family any time soon. He was going to be immortal for them.

He gasped as he woke up from the dead. Rebekah was sat near the couch, watching him sadly. She jumped to his side as he woke up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her head in the crook of his neck as he returned the hug, his arms slipping around her waist. "Do you regret it?" Rebekah asked.

He just shook his head. "Do I regret signing up to an eternity with you? Of course not."

So he drank human blood and became a vampire. Since then he drank human blood from blood bags and in honour of his one request Rebekah stayed with him until he had complete control over his blood-lust so he managed not to kill anyone. At least in the beginning. He had an eternity in front of him and there wasn't a vampire alive who hadn't killed. They just managed to stall it.

So three years past and neither Matt nor Rebekah aged a day. Aviana did though. She celebrated her 7th birthday with every kid in her class at school who all seemed to be good friends with her. Matt and Rebekah had spent the whole night before setting up a bouncy castle out back, and pin the tail on the donkey and a piñata full of candy along with a small buffet table filled with junk food and cupcakes. Aviana had spent the previous day with Rebekah baking a large pink birthday cake with different princess-themed decorations.

The kids came and ran around screaming, handing different presents to Aviana who was beaming in her birthday tiara. Her best friend, Sameera, who she had been friends with since she started pre-school, ran around by her side, holding Aviana's hand at all times. Sammy had become a very close acquaintance to the family, as well had her two fathers. They were always who Rebekah or Matt asked to babysit and vice versa. Sameera and Aviana did absolutely everything they could together.

"Make a wish, Avi," Sameera instructed when it was time to Aviana to blow out her birthday candles. Avi closed her eyes as she thought of a wish before beaming and blowing out her candles. "Don't tell me what you wished for!" Sameera said.

"I won't," Aviana assured her.

None of them had any word from Klaus or Elijah or anyone from their past lives so they ended up looking forward instead of back. Rebekah often wondered if Klaus was looking for them, but unable to find them due to all the charms Rebekah had done on her family to hide them. The thought was sad – she wanted to see her brothers again – but she wouldn't risk Dahlia finding them instead.

Caroline also became a fairly regular acquaintance of the family. She didn't do a very good job of staying away and often came around for holidays and birthdays and loved playing with Avi, who referred to her as _Auntie Care_. Somehow that didn't annoy Rebekah, her actual aunt. She was called Mommy so Rebekah managed not to get jealous. Her and Caroline were on civil terms as to not upset Avi, who cried when people she liked were arguing. Caroline had of course, found out who the father of Aviana was and had been uncomfortable with the idea, but didn't mention anything about her relationship with Klaus to Avi.

Matt had always looked into his future and seen himself with a small group of kids, teaching a son or daughter to throw a ball, playing soccer, etcetera. Aviana was more than excited for soccer. At least once a week, she wore an over-sized blue jersey and kicked a ball around on the beach with Matt.

Rebekah also had her fun with Avi. She taught the little girl about dressmaking and sewing. And some less stereotypically-feminine things, like how to kick a boys ass if need be. Self defence was obviously a very important subject in their family.

Rebekah didn't stop telling Avi stories about her family throughout history. They helped Avi get to sleep or feel better during a cold. She also had pictures of all of her family members, stories about them, and she knew that Klaus didn't want to give her up. She always talked about how one day she would meet her Daddy and how she was going to make him proud. And she was always bragging to guests about how her Daddy was a king. Rebekah filmed some of it. It bought literal tears to her eyes and when the day came she wanted to show Klaus.

"My Daddy's a king," Aviana said. "And I'm his little princess. But I will fight like a warrior until I make my Daddy proud."

Aviana was the best in her class at school. She got high grades, for a child, for English, Maths, Science. The only two subjects she could not wrap her little head around was French and Gym. Despite loving soccer and self-defence with Matt and Rebekah, she did not find climbing a rope, or running around a track any fun.

When Matt and Rebekah came to watch sports day and Aviana was made to run, they watched little Avi pretend to pass out half-way around the track. Her friend Sameera forced her to stand up and kept pulling her along though. They also watched the two girls win the three-legged race. They also seemed to have the time of their lives in the sack races and ended up falling behind, literally, and rolling around in their sacks, laughing, instead of competing.

She grew more competitive over the year, though. She started trying to win things and soon she was collecting trophies. A few for soccer, a few for dancing, a few for intellectual ability at school. Matt built her a trophy case for her room that became crowded as the years went by. "I think your Daddy would be very proud of this," Rebekah told her as Aviana added another trophy to the cabinet.

Aviana also took up music lessons. She started learning how to play the guitar and Matt and Rebekah could hear her practising in her room, becoming better and better as time went by. She also had an incredible singing voice which she often broke out for certain songs.

Rebekah's theory was right. During puberty, Aviana began to show more supernatural traits along with her human changes. One day when Rebekah came home from work she found 10-year-old Aviana in the kitchen, completely panicking because two little fangs had poked through and the veins under her eyes were visible and the whites around her pupils had turned red. She had been covering her face and crying and Rebekah wrapped her arms around her and comforted her, assuring her that all was going to be fine and that she was going to be okay.

A year later, when she was 11, she became a wolf for the first time. One full moon she started turning. Rebekah did everything she could to stop the agonizing pain she was going through after sending Matt away. If he got bit, he'd die, whereas Rebekah would just be sick for a day or two. Avi soon learned to control it, being a hybrid, but every time she was afraid or angry she found it extra hard to control.

"You know," Rebekah mused, one time when Avi found the storm outside frightening, "I used to be afraid of thunderstorms." She sat on the edge of Aviana's bed as the girl tried to sleep. "You father would wrap me up and give me gifts and promise me he would never let the storm hurt me."

"I know the storm can't hurt me," Aviana grumbled, fiddling with the little toy Klaus had once given Rebekah, who gave it to baby Aviana. She had kept very good care of it. "If my father was here now what would he say?" Aviana asked.

"Probably something similar to what he said to me so long ago," Rebekah said. "That he'll never let anything hurt you."

There was a pause as Avi thought to herself, holding a stuffed bunny loosely in her arms that she had kept since her fifth birthday. "Do you... is there any chance he just doesn't want me? It's been eleven years-"

"Don't say that," Rebekah said. "I know my brother, Avi. He is heartbroken that he never got to watch you grow up. And you will meet him one day and he will fall in love with you instantly. And he will never let you go again. I promise you he wants you."

Aviana nodded sadly. "Okay."

Rebekah kissed her forehead before leaving lingering at the door, watching as her niece rolled over and tried to sleep. It was heartbreaking to hear her question the love her father had for her. She really hoped Avi didn't feel that way for long. If not for herself, for Klaus. Because when, after all these years, he finally found his daughter, he would be in enough pain already with his own guilt without Aviana being hurt by it. One of them needed to be strong and after knowing both of them better than anyone, Rebekah guessed it was probably going to be Avi.

Rebekah walked back into her and Matt's room and crawled into bed. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest. "Avi okay?" he asked.

Rebekah nodded. "I think she's afraid Klaus won't like her."

"Well, it has been eleven years," he said. "And I know that's not his fault, but she's bound to have her doubts. I never met my father and I never heard anything about him and I doubt he ever cared for me at all. Avi has been raised to believe her Dad loves her, so I'm sure, when the time comes, she'll believe it."

"What if the time doesn't come?" Rebekah asked. "I mean... how long does it take for Klaus to kill his enemies? Has he finished? Is he looking for her? What if something happened to _him_?"

Matt held her tighter. "You're brother is fine, Rebekah. He's an Original after all. He'll be okay and him and Avi will live happily ever after. I promise."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Rebekah looked out of the kitchen window, a cup of tea in her hands and smiled. Matt had just gently tackled a giggling Aviana in a one on one game of football. She couldn't help but be surprised by how big Avi was getting. It had felt like no time at all had passed an already, her baby girl was starting middle-school.

Avi and Matt split up and she said something before jogging inside, wearing shorts and her over-sized red jersey that used to be Matt's. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and there was sand smudged on her cheek.

"Hey," she said to Rebekah as she bounced into the kitchen. She went to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle to drink from.

"Hey," Rebekah said, smiling at her softly. Even if she was getting big, she was still considerably shorter than Rebekah.

"By the way, I'm over that thing I said yesterday," Aviana said. "You know, about my Dad? I think my life will be a little happier if I choose to believe in him. And when we meet, I'll make him believe in me too."

* * *

 **I'll try to update sonner but I will make no promises. Hi, my name's Izzy and I'm a Procastination-holic.**

 **Psst, you! Yeah, you! Review! You're opinion matters to me! -Izzy**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm so sorry this is late! Really there's no excuse for it! I've just been feeling really uninspired with this story for a while and I'm sorry about that. I'm really going to try to update sooner next time, I promise!**

 **Thank you so much to everyone for reading and reviewing. Sorry that this chapter's a little short.-Izzy**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

Rebekah came down the stairs and walked into the doorway of the kitchen, peering inside. Matt was flipping pancakes like a pro and Aviana was sitting at the table. She was thirteen now. Thirteen years old and still no sign of Klaus. Thirteen years into the job and Rebekah finally felt like she was doing a good job.

"Good morning," she greeted, strutting further into the kitchen and smiling at both of them, two parts of her important family that currently added up to make her entire life.

"What's got you so smiley?" Matt asked, turning to look at her as he flipped another pancake. He had become the master at that, but he had given up on teaching Avi who had a habit of getting pancake stuck on the ceiling because of it.

"Yeah, you're usually some sought of gremlin this early in the morning," Aviana added, looking up at Rebekah with a sarcastic sought of smile.

"Well you had to inherit it from someone," Rebekah answered, smirking at her somewhat daughter.

"Just imagine," Matt said, "how hard my life gets when I have to deal with you both so early into a Monday morning." He turned and smiled at his wife and beautiful child. He knew he had to give her back to Klaus at one point, and that the Original Hybrid might not be so happy about his involvement in Avi's life. But he couldn't help but love her like a daughter.

Avi just rolled her eyes. "No, seriously though. What's got you in such a good mood? And can I have some?"

Rebekah just cocked her head and smiled at the two. "I just realised how perfect my life is," she said. She walked up behind Matt and wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing his cheek. "I have a wonderful, sweet, handsome husband..."

"Well it's nice to be appreciated," Matt said, turning to kiss her back, but she had moved on.

She picked up a black folder on the table with some of her designs in for work. "A fun and perfectly normal job that makes me work for the things I want and gives me a sense of accomplishment." She put it down and hugged Aviana. "And my beautiful, incredible daughter, or part daughter anyway, whom I love so dearly."

"I love you too, Mom," Aviana said, hugging back. She had gotten into the habit of calling her that when she was little and it kind of stuck. Avi may not have biologically been her daughter, but she was as good at and Rebekah was her mother. And nobody was ever going to take that title from her.

"You're just having a moment this morning, aren't you Beks?" Matt asked, smirking a little at her.

"Maybe," Rebekah admitted, letting Avi go. "Everyone has moments."

He turned and smiled at her. "Well I can't say that my beautiful wife hasn't made my life a billion times better. I love you." He put his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he leaned his forehead against hers.

"I love you, too," she said, kissing him rather passionately. They didn't have a problem with kissing in front of Avi. She didn't consider it to be a big secret or something to be ashamed of. When Avi was a baby she would laugh and giggle when Matt and Rebekah kissed and she would cry when they fought. To that day, the mood of Matt and Rebekah greatly affected her own.

"Avi, you need a lift to school today?" Matt asked, adding the last pancake to the plate and putting the plate on the table.

"Nah, I think I'll walk," Aviana sat as Rebekah and Matt sat at the table with her. "Thanks, though."

They always ate together. Breakfast, dinner, Sunday lunch. It was important to all three of them to try and be a normal family. "Since you're offering lifts," Rebekah said, "you can take me into work today."

"Yes, my Queen," Matt winked.

After they ate breakfast Rebekah pulled together everything she needed for work, her folders, designs, collections of different fabrics and shoved them into her bag. She saw Avi off to school before getting into Matt's car. It had been a fairly normal routine for a few years by that point. Wake up, eat breakfast, send Avi off to school, go to work and try to pretend that everything's all right. And it was. She loved the life she had. But two things would make it so much better. Klaus and Elijah. And the rest of her family but that was a little too impossible.

It was early April in Florida and the weather was sunny and boiling hot. It was the same weather Florida had year-round. They had once driven up North for Christmas to have snowball fights and make snow-angels and show Avi a White Christmas. It had been a wonderful vacation that ended in the three of them collapsing on a couch, huddled up under a blanket watching lame Christmas movies and eating hot popcorn.

They made it a regular occasion. Every year for Christmas they would travel up to the cabin that Rebekah ended up buying in Maine. Avi was already excited for that year. The girl loved Christmas. It was her favourite time of year. Matt pulled the car up outside Rebekah's office and turned to her, smiling. "Is your moment over?" he asked.

"Almost," she answered, looking out of the wind shield. "I'm still in awe."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see his eyebrows furrow together. "Of what?" he asked. She turned to him. He had settled surprisingly well into being a vampire. He drank animal blood instead of human blood. Rebekah had suggested blood-bags, like she drank from, but Matt said that he didn't want to get a taste for human. After all those years he hadn't hurt one person, which was extraordinary. Rebekah had kept a very close watch over him, watching him almost 24/7 to make sure he didn't get out of control. He had had some human blood, just so he could try and control it, but overall, he stayed away from the stuff.

"Us," Rebekah said, smiling. Her relationship with him was like a dream. Like a dream about being human and getting the most incredible happily-ever-after she could think of and she was in awe of that. "You," she continued. "Avi. After 1000 years of pain and loss... I finally have everything I ever wanted. Minus humanity of course."

"Rebekah," Matt said, smiling at her. "We both have jobs. We're married. We live in Florida with annoying neighbours and bills to pay. We have a kid together. This is as human as it gets."

"I know," Rebekah nodded, beaming. "And for that I owe you. More than I could ever repay. Thank you for making me feel human again. Thank you for making me feel alive." She paused, sighing. "And thank you for helping me raise Aviana, for choosing to run away with me that day. I couldn't have done it without you."

Matt just winked at her. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

So Rebekah got out of the car and carried out her normal, regular day. She designed things, she bossed people about, she made two employee's cry, she got a black coffee and blueberry muffin from the coffee shop nearby, ect.

She also booked another appointment with August, the warlock who had been hiding Aviana so that they could get some spells done to hide her for another year. The Warlock had been ageing a little of course, but he wasn't much past his thirties and fully capable of continuing their appointments each year. Not that Rebekah particularly trusted him. She knew he was known for backstabbing, but he was the best warlock there was and she needed the best spells done. Besides, she also knew he was afraid of Rebekah.

A few more hours of work past with Rebekah working ceaselessly behind a desk. She was pretty proud of how much she got done when the time came to pack up. She neatened up her desk and packed everything in her bag that she needed to take home. Her desk was a wooden thing that was pretty much covered with designs and fabrics with a vintage sewing machine in one corner.

She left earlier than anyone else because she had to pick Aviana up from school. Of course, she had to run home and get her car first. Thirteen years spent in Florida and people were starting to ask her how she stayed looking so young. She was supposed to be about 30 now. But she didn't look it. She knew they couldn't stay in Florida forever. More people would start asking how her and Matt looked so young and people would start to get suspicious. Rebekah had changed over the years. Her hair was shorter and she was tanner due to the Florida sunshine.

But that wouldn't make up for the fact that she never aged.

She arrived at the Middle School early and parked the car outside. It was a private school as Rebekah thought it was more fitting for her status than a public school. Matt said she was being snooty but Rebekah knew Klaus wouldn't have settled for anything less. She was always asking herself _What would Klaus do?_ when it came to raising Aviana. And it did cost them a little more money but it was worth it.

When the bell ran Avi came flooding out of the school with the rest of the students, laughing and joking with some of her friends. She had instantly become one of the most loved students as she was simply kind to everybody, helped everyone out. She wasn't a stuck-up popular kid who everyone admired, she was just everyone's friend.

Avi split up from all of her closest friends and jumped into Rebekah's car. The private school had rules about uniform, but they were pretty loose and easy to find loopholes in, so with Rebekah's help, Aviana wore something pretty that wasn't against the rules. It usually consisted of a white shirt with black skinny jeans and a grey, low-hanging waist coat and knee-high black Converse shoes, which Avi got for Christmas last year and barely taken off since. The tie was enforced and she had to wear it, but she wore it loosely around her neck and didn't seem to mind. Her thick brown hair fell in thick curls that day but she was always doing something new with it. When she was little it used to be lighter, like Rebekah's hair, but faded to a thicker, darker brown like Hayley's.

"Hey," Rebekah said as Avi dumped her bag at her feet and pulled out a blue folder as Rebekah turned the engine on and began to drive.

"Hey," she replied, opening it up and beginning to flick through the pages. "We going straight home?"

"No, we need to stop at August's," Rebekah said.

"Hm?" Aviana said, looking up at her. "Oh yeah. Has it really been a year already?"

Rebekah nodded. "Time flies, right? You studying already? You just got out of school."

"Yeah, I have an Italian test tomorrow," Aviana said, writing something down in her folder and looking up at Rebekah. "You speak the language?"

Rebekah nodded. "Yes, I do," she said. "I learnt it a few centuries back. Beautiful language, beautiful culture." Avi was used to knowing Rebekah had been around for centuries. Probably because she was raised with the fact in the back of her mind. "I actually tutored Matt on the subject for his final exams."

"Well can you help me?" Aviana asked. "I completely suck at it. I mean, science and math I can do, and I'm pretty good at English. Italian? Nope."

Aviana had many skills, including those which she had just listed. Matt had also taught her to become incredible at football and soccer. Rebekah had taught her how to sew. In her free time she took dance classes with her friends and Karate with Sameera, her best friend. Not that she particularly needed them. With Matt and Rebekah, the hiding spells and everything. But she was faster and stronger than other girls her age due to her supernatural capabilities and it was probably best she knew how to use that skill.

"Everybody has their talents and everybody struggles with something," Rebekah said, smiling at her. "Sure, I'll help. What do we cover first?"

"Animals," she said, flicking through some notes. "What is a... _Lupo_?"

-0-0-0-0-0-

The building was in ruins, almost completely destroyed due to the battle that had just ended. It had been a viscous, bloody one that had been long overdue. Thirteen years to be exact. But finally, Klaus's foot rested on his dead aunt Dahlia's body, his clothes torn and bloody, cuts and bruises and injuries all over him healing themselves. He wiped blood from around his mouth and was ready to burst out in laughter or tears or something. If there was going to be any time to express his emotions, it would have been now.

Because finally, after thirteen years of lying, hiding, running, chasing, moving his pieces in a long game of chess with his aunt, it was finally over. She was finally dead and Klaus could breath for the first time in thirteen years. She, wherever she was, was safe.

Klaus was panting, as if he had just ran a thirteen-year long marathon. And it felt like he had. It was almost time to rest, to relax. "Do you know what this means?" Klaus asked, the faintest ghost of a smile beginning to play on his lips.

"I have a reasonable assumption," Elijah's voice said from next to him. His brother came to a halt by his side, pulling a stake out of his side. His suit was also ripped and bloody from the battle he had stood by Klaus for. "But please, do tell me what this means to you."

"It means," Klaus said, his voice falling from a growl that had stuck with him through the fight into a soft whisper, "that after 13 years it's finally safe for me to know my daughter. I... I can find her. Know her. Be her father."

Elijah paused before being the bearer of realistic bad news. "You do understand that it will not be that simple? For one thing, we can trust that Rebekah would have had charms put in place to hide the girl from her searchers. For another thing, the girl will now be thirteen and will have developed her own opinion of you, and that may be that you are neglectful."

Klaus sighed, his face falling. Elijah always had been such a buzz kill. "I know," Klaus said. "Believe me, I know. And that has been among my greatest fears for thirteen years. But I have to at least try anyway. What kind of father would I be if I didn't at least try because it seemed to difficult?"

"You have more than every right to try Niklaus, and I will assist you but any means necessary," Elijah promised. "I just feel the need to tell you that we are merely one step closer. If the girl is anything like you, Rebekah or Kol, she will not except you into her life so easily."

"Well we can always pray that she has her Uncle Elijah's forgiving nature," Klaus said, smirking at him. He saw a smile playing at Elijah's face to and knew that his brother wanted to be an uncle to the girl almost as much as Klaus wanted to be her father. "But I doubt praying will do any good as this war's had so many casualties that I doubt the big man upstairs will listen to us. Either way... I'm ready to meet my daughter."

* * *

 **Please, please review! They really mean a lot to me. Feel free to have a go at me for updating so late! -Izzy**


	8. Chapter 8

**I told you I'd update sooner! So this chapter is a little short, and a little bit of a filler, but I really wanted to update today.  
**

 **Thanks everyone for reading a reviewing. You're reviews mean so much to me! All of you are so nice, even when I am kind of a massive procrastinater. -Izzy**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

"Hey!" Caroline Forbes exclaimed brightly as the front door swung open. She was dressed for travel, in a coat, her hair pinned up and next to no jewellery on. She leaned on a black suitcase and smiled enthusiastically at the family she greeted.

"Hey," Matt said, wrapping his arms around Caroline's waist and hugging her. The two friends hadn't seen each other in months and Matt was over the moon to have Caroline stay with them for the summer.

"Hi," Rebekah said from behind Matt. She smiled at Caroline and embraced the girl herself when Matt broke away from her. The two of them had once been viciously feuding enemies with a deep, bitter hate for each other. But after 10 years, since her and Matt's wedding, and with Caroline being the only person who knew about their secret, the two girls had grown to be friends. 10 years did that to people.

"'Sup?" Avi said from the couch. She was sat crossed-legged under a pile of science books and encyclopedias, with her laptop out and open beside her on some science website. She barely looked up when Caroline came through the door. Matt rolled his eyes. He knew Aviana loved Caroline and looked up to her as an aunt, but she also had a schedule always written up in her head and if she was set on studying, she would hardly focus on anything else, especially if the study was important. Her teachers loved that about her.

"Avi, make Caroline a coffee," Rebekah ordered, looking over her shoulder. That was one of the perks of being a parent. You could just tell your kids to do everything you couldn't be bothered to do.

"Nope," Aviana said, reading something on a website. She had her hair in a messy bun on her head and wore leggings and a grey tank-top, the same clothes she had slept in. She had one earphone in her ear and her music on quietly.

"Avi," Rebekah said, looking a lot more formal in her skinny jeans, heals and blouse. She spoke with a warning tone, ready to bring out the parental strictness.

Avi looked up innocently from her books. "Mom?" she replied. She had been calling her that for years now, which was why Rebekah wasn't jealous about the fact that Caroline was the Aunt figure in Aviana's life.

"I'm serious," Rebekah sighed.

"Me too," Aviana said, as if she was afraid Rebekah thought she was joking.

Caroline chimed in. "I can make coffee," she smiled brightly. "I know the kitchen well enough by now. Really, it's no problem and I don't want to put anyone out."

There was a loud, audible sigh from the couch as Aviana got to her feet. "No, I'll do it," she said, shifting her work off her lap and getting to her feet. That was one of her weird quirks. She didn't want to help, but she didn't want to be inconvenient either.

Rebekah smiled, satisfied. "I'll take your suitcase upstairs," she offered, reaching out for Caroline's bag.

"Thanks, Rebekah," Caroline smiled, gratefully. She hugged Matt again as Rebekah headed upstairs. Caroline walked over to the couch, picking up one of the books Avi was reading a shamelessly having no clue what it said. "Why are you studying so hard?" she called into the kitchen, where Avi was boiling the kettle.

"There's a new boy in my class who got a higher score than me on a test," Aviana called back the explanation. "Mr Clay introduced him to the rest of the class as 'The best of the best'. I'm the best of the best. I'm Aviana Mikaelson. Or Aviana Millward, take your pick."

"Millward?" Caroline asked, being unfamiliar with the name.

"That's what the muggles call me," Avi said, peaking her head out of the kitchen and smiling.

Matt turned to Caroline and explained. "That's one of the basic things we did to hide her. People would look for the name Mikaelson. We got her a birth certificate under that name as well, but that's a secret one."

"What's her middle name?" Caroline asked.

"Rebekah on both," Rebekah said, strutting back into the room. "Matt insisted. So, Avi, what are you doing in science?"

"Phobia's," Aviana said. "I'm currently looking up Taphephobia."

"What's that?" Matt asked. "Fear of Taffy?"

Aviana paused, looking at him strangely. "Oh my God," she said. "Stop your mouth from moving. Anyway, the kid's nice and I kind of respect him for setting the bar higher for me." The three adults all shared similar looks. "What?" Avi asked, putting a mug of coffee down in front of Caroline. "What's that face?"

"Has someone got her first crush?" Rebekah asked, innocently.

"Oh my God, shut up," she said as Caroline winked at her and Matt laughed. "Even if I did have a crush on him, which I don't, he wouldn't be my first crush. There was a guy called Taz when I was 5, who I could've sworn I was in love with."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Talk about guys later. Aviana, we have a game to play, remember?"

Avi nodded, remembering her promise to give Matt another chance to beat her at Mario Kart. She doubted he would succeed. "Right, let's go," she said, nodding.

When the two bounced out of the room, Caroline turned to Rebekah. "God, she's so smart. Especially for a 13 year old. You two must be so proud!"

Rebekah smiled as she got an oven tray out and and started preparing a roast. " _A_ grade student who is friends with everyone? It's impossible not to be proud of her!"

Caroline nodded, pausing. "This may sound a little rude, and I'm sorry if it comes across that way... but what actually is Avi? Is she a werewolf or what?"

Rebekah smirked a little. "That's not rude, Caroline. She's a Tribrid. Part werewolf, vampire and witch. It seems to be sought of split into thirds, with no dominant feature."

"Does she turn every full moon?" Caroline asked.

Rebekah shook her head. "No, like a Hybrid, she seems fairly in control of that. Sometimes the control wavers in a moment of fear and she turns, but she's only ever in wolf form very rarely. And it seemed to hurt more after puberty hit."

"What about her vampire side?" Caroline asked, picking up some herbs to help Rebekah with the preparation of the roast. "Does she drink blood?"

"Only a little," Rebekah said. "She doesn't particularly like it, and it's always animal blood. It's not like she craves it or hunts it, she just needs a little to give her strength. It wasn't always like that, but, again, things grew on her with time. And she doesn't need a sunlight ring. Going to ask about the witch side next?"

Caroline smirked. "No, I'm not really concerned with that part," she said. "Vampires struggle with the blood-lust and the sun and everything. Wolves struggle with the pain of turning once a month. But have you seen witches? They have their shit together."

Rebekah laughed. "She's becoming better with her magic. She inherited from my mother, an incredibly powerful witch, so her powers are pretty strong. She only knows a few spells, all of which are minor, but if she was angry, or afraid, the magic could channel itself into anything uncontrollable."

In the other room, Mario was getting serious. Aviana was pretty competitive, especially when it came to video games with Matt. He felt the same way most of the time. He used to always let her win, when she was younger. That's just what parents did. But after a while, she could beat him without his help. "WOO!" she exclaimed as she won yet another round. She moved her arms in a happy, victory dance as she grinned.

"Wow," Matt said, laughing. "So winning just turns you into a giant dork, right?"

Avi scoffed and stopped dancing. She pointed at him and spoke. "Okay, I'm going to ignore the fact that you said that because I know that comment came from a place of shame and humiliation."

"It's the truth," Matt said. He paused. "Is that what that boy at school likes about you?"

"Oh, God," Avi sighed. "Not you too!"

Matt laughed. "I just think, as your father-figure, we should have this conversation!" he said. He continued talking despite Avi's continuous saying _'Oh, God, stop!'_. "And I want to make sure that you know that you can talk to me about these things-"

"Stop, please," Aviana said. "I'm begging you. First of all, don't refer to yourself as my 'father-figure'. You've been that for thirteen years, you get to claim the title of my father. Second of all, I'm thirteen, I'm not thinking about dating anyone right now."

"Okay," Matt said, shrugging. "As long as you understand that you deserve someone who would move mountains to be with you."

"Got it," she smirked. "I'm going to get a drink. You want anything?"

Matt shook his head and Avi walked over to the kitchen, interrupting a conversation between Rebekah and Caroline. Well, she didn't exactly interrupt, they just fell silent when she walked in. "Hi?" she said, confused. Usually Rebekah didn't keep things from her. Other than the fact Santa wasn't real. She found out the truth when she was eight.

"Hey," Rebekah said. She was pouting and looked kind of annoyed. She looked as though she was trying to hide it, but Avi saw right through that.

Avi put on a grumpy face and mimicked a perfect British accent. "What's wrong? Did somebody butter their bread with a steak knife?" Avi, being born and raised in the USA had an American accent, but she often mimicked a British accent purely to annoy Rebekah.

Rebekah just rolled her eyes. "Nothing's wrong. Caroline and I were just talking about your father. You're biological father, that is."

"Oh," Avi said, her face falling her her British accent going away. She turned to Caroline and smiled. "Did you know him?"

Caroline paused, looking as though she didn't know what to say. "Yeah. I mean, we weren't close, in fact I kind of hated him – wait no, I don't mean that I hated him, exactly... but the two of us weren't close. Well he was kind of close – not in a stalker way... not that it sounded like he was a stalker, just that – I didn't mean that, and I didn't dislike him all the time-"

"Avi, why don't you get Caroline a blood-bag out of the fridge?" Rebekah suggested.

Avi walked over to the fridge as Caroline continued her awkward stuttering. She handed Caroline a blood bag. "Here. You should put something in your mouth besides your foot."

Caroline took the blood and shut up. "I'm not saying I particularly know him well," Caroline said after a pause. "But I do know him. And I know he would be crazy proud of you. I saw how hard you were studying in there. Before Mario Kart, that was."

"I always dreamed big," Avi said. "And to dream big, you have to be prepared to work hard."

"She's a big dreamer," Rebekah said. "Harvard has been her dream since she was eight." Avi just shrugged innocently before going back into the other room.

-0-0-0-0-0-

August was settling down to a regular evening around the house. Scented candles, a hot bath, lots of bubbles, a nice book of poetry. He shifted the cat off of his lap and stood up to run a bath when his front door flew off the hinges. He turned immediately, his hands at the ready for some serious defence magic. A man walked in, one that August didn't recognise. He was dressed in dark clothes, dark jeans and a t-shirt with a black denim jacket. By his side was another man in an all-black suit.

"You must be August," the first man said. "I'm Klaus Mikaelson. It's a pleasure... etcetera." He walked around the apartment, picking up family pictures and putting them back. The second man just leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed across his chest. "Oh, and this is my brother, Elijah," Klaus said. "Neither of us have much patience, so I suggest you play along."

"Play along with what?" August asked. "What do you want from me? And how did you get in here? You need to be invited in, you're clearly both vampires."

"Yes, we need to be invited in," Elijah said. "By the owner of the house. The owner is dead. You were simply renting the place. But that's beside the point. I believe my brother has a question for you."

"Where is my daughter?" Klaus asked, zooming over to August and grabbing him by the neck, strangling him as he slammed the warlock against the wall. August tried to use magic to push Klaus away, but he wasn't powerful enough for the Original Hybrid.

"I deal with a lot of people," August said. "50% of whom are female. You're going to have to be more specific if you want any information out of me. Can you even give me a name?"

"Unfortunately not," Klaus said. "You see, my littlest wolf and I have been separated for so long that these things have slipped my mind completely. Inconvenient? Yes. But we're just going to have to work around my lack of knowledge about her."

"She would have been taken to you 13 years ago," Elijah said. "She would have been a baby. Her guardian was, and hopefully still is, a blonde woman, around 5 feet 6, Original vampire? The child would have returned once every year." August reached behind him as Elijah approached and grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby coffee table. He swung them around at Klaus and tried to stab him with them but Elijah blocked him. "Was that necessary?" Elijah asked as the scissors clashed through the sleeve of his suit. "This was new."

"Don't try and defend yourself," Klaus said. "It won't work."

"I can't tell you anything," August said. "The blonde woman who's hiding her, she'll kill me if I told."

"Yes, but I would do it a lot more painfully," Klaus said. "I suggest you talk." August paused and Elijah stabbed him with the pair of scissors. "Let's start with something easy," Klaus said as August cried out in pain. "You know of the girl we're talking about, yes?"

August nodded, but he seemed to be in too much pain to speak. Klaus bit open his wrist and fed him some blood. He coughed a spluttered and Klaus let him go. "I know the girl," August said.

"She's safe?" Klaus asked. "Happy? Healthy?"

August sighed. "I don't know her well," he said. "She seems fine when she came around last. It was only a week or two ago. Pretty cheerful, I guess."

"Can you tell us where she is?" Klaus asked. "Or do we need to bring violence back into the question? If you don't talk there's no need for your tongue."

August paused. "No. No, I don't know where she lives. But, er... I do know a witch. She knows, she'll be able to tell you. Do you have a pen? I'll write down the address."

* * *

 **Please review, I love reading them! Klaus will meet Avi next chapter and there will be a little more Caroline and Avi interaction. -Izzy**


	9. Chapter 9

**So this chapter may be little. I'm working on making them longer. I've mentioned this before but Klaroline is no stranger to this story. It'll play a small part, and it will remain mostly Mabekah/Aviana central but, Klaroline will be searved on the side. Thank you so much to everyone who's been kind enough to review, they really mean so much to me! -Izzy**

* * *

 **Chapter 9  
**

"Aviana!" Rebekah called, her fist slamming on the door of her daughter's bedroom. "Come on, waked up!" Getting a teenager out of bed early on a Monday morning was apparently one of the hardest parts of being a parent. Rebekah was sick and tired of yelling Avi up, but she wouldn't get up for school otherwise.

"What's all the noise?" Caroline asked, poking her head out of the door of her favourite guest bedroom down the hall. Her blonde hair was a mess and she was wearing pyjamas still. "What's going on?"

"I'm trying to get Avi up for school," Rebekah explained. "I need to get ready for work, I don't want to stand out here forever calling her up!" Caroline rolled her eyes and walked over to Avi's bedroom door, joining Rebekah in the task of banging on it and yelling Aviana's name.

"How is work going?" Caroline asked in between yelling.

"Good," Rebekah said. "It feels so great earning things instead of just getting things, you know?"

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, I've started a journalism job a few months ago. Aviana! Get up!"

Aviana's door swung open and the teenage glared at the two blondes. Her brunette hair was a rats nest and what little make up she wore was smudged under her eyes. She wore flannel pyjama pants and an over sized jacket that Rebekah recognised as Matt's. "I heard you the first time," Avi said. "And I answered you. We don't have school today."

"Yeah right," Rebekah said. "Now go have breakfast and get dressed."

Avi grumbled something under her breath and pulled out her phone. She bought up the school's official website and showed Rebekah. " _A water pipe burst in the area and is causing trouble for the school building. Therefore school will be closed today. Sorry for any inconvenience to the interruption of learning."_ It was a notice agt the top of the home page. "See?" Aviana said. "No school today."

"Oh," Rebekah said, reading Avi's phone. "You're right."

"Yeah," Avi said, loudly and slowly, as if what she was saying was hard for Rebekah to understand. "I know I'm right!"

Rebekah paused. She hated leaving Aviana alone. It wasn't a trust thing, the girl was incredibly mature for her age. And she was old enough to be left home alone. But Rebekah had no idea who was still after her and wanted her under constant protection. Of course, there was school, when Avi was away from her or Matt. But it would be a lot harder for an enemy to go to a public place and find which kid was Klaus's daughter. When she was left home alone, and if somebody got the address, there was no chance for Avi.

"I'm here today," Caroline reminded Rebekah, seeing the look on her face. The two girls had been friends for ten years, they had learned to read each other quite well. "Avi and I will be fine."

Rebekah nodded, sighing. "Yeah, I need to get ready for work."

Rebekah began the morning like any other. Getting dressed, collecting her folders and paperwork, grabbing coffee and breakfast. But she had this awful feeling in the pit of her stomach. Like something was going to go wrong today. Something bad was going to happen and the only thing Rebekah could think of was that Avi was going to be home all day. "Hey," Matt said, walking into the kitchen as Rebekah sipped her coffee. "You okay?"

He was dressed for work, wearing his dark pants and shirt and police badge. He picked a blood bag out of the fridge and drank from it. It was quite wierd to see. He was a vampire, but still so human. Being a vampire was probably the reason why he had a lot of medals for different achievements on his shirt. "Yeah, I'm fine," Rebekah said. She must have not been convincing because Matt just gave her a doubtful look. Or maybe she was convincing and Matt just had the power to see right through her. "I just have a really bad feeling about Avi being home today."

Matt paused. He knew Rebekah and trusted her. So when she had a bad feeling, Matt listened to it. "Really?" he asked. "Well I can take the day off work to keep an eye on her..."

"Caroline's already going to be home," Rebekah said. "I could take the day off work, I'm stronger than both of you put together. But on the other hand... she'll take it the wrong way." Aviana was not a fan of being constantly supervised. She would think Rebekah was staying home to babysit her. And even if she knew and understood that Rebekah just wanted to protect her, she would hate that. Aviana would feel weak, insist that she could take care of herself and it would only lead to an argument. But was it worth it?

Honestly, nothing had happened for thirteen years. Nobody had been able to find them. Well, nobody important anyone. There was the occasional vampire who had heard of Klaus's daughter and came sniffing around, but they didn't live long enough to see Aviana. Maybe Rebekah was just being paranoid. "Do what you think is necassary," Matt said.

Rebekah paused. "She'll be fine. I'm being silly." Matt pulled her towards him and kissed her. Rebekah rested her arms around his shoulders and they paused for a minute, enjoying the feel of each other's arms around them, loving the other's prescence for a minute. After the wedding Rebekah had changed her name to Mikaelson-Donovan. She wanted Matt's name to be a part of hers, but she couldn't ditch 'Mikaelson'.

Matt pulled Rebekah towards him and hugged her. She rested her arms around her shoulders and they held each other there for a minute, simply enjoying the company of each other. Matt kissed her on the forhead before they both headed off to work, leaving Caroline and Aviana alone in the living room, waving them goodbye before they turned to each other. "Let's do something fun," Caroline said.

They ransacked the house, trying to find something to do before they found themselves, somehow, in the kitchen, pouring ingredients for cookies into a mixing bowl. Because why not make cookies? They were both bored, hungry and had nothing better to do. And they both craved cookies. After three flour explosions, two ruined shoes and a terrible time getting egg out of Avi's hair, they finally made a good-looking cookie-dough. An hour into the job. Well, neither of them were brilliant cooks to start with, so they couldn't expect it to go perfectly.

"I think we'll need more chocolate chips," Avi said, holding up the half-full packet that was all they had in the house.

"Don't you have more?" Caroline asked. "I swear, Bekah always keeps the house stocked up with ingredients for stuff like this."

Aviana paused, looking guilty. "I kind of pick at them in my spare time. What?! You can hardly blame me."

Caroline studied the packet and paused. "I'll run up to the shop on the corner and get some more. You'll need to come with me."

"What?" Aviana said. "I've still got egg in my hair! And I'm thirteen, I don't need constant supervision."

Caroline rolled her eyes and nodded. "I know, I know. But I promised your mother I'd watch you like a hawk. She got a seriously bad vibe this morning and I trust her, so I need to keep an eye on you. It's nothing personal, Avi. We're just looking out for you."

"I'm a Tribrid," Aviana said. "It takes more than cookie-dough to take me out. Besides, I'm not going anywhere with the best half of a yolk in my hair. The shop's like, two minutes away. You'd be able to hear me scream if I was in danger, and get back in no time."

"Sure," Caroline said. "But I happen to take protecting you very seriously."

Aviana paused, before presenting Caroline with the truth. "I'm one third vampire. I can turn into a wolf on demand and am incredibly powerful when it comes to performing spells that can kill. If we were in danger, which I highly doubt we are, I would be the one protecting you. Now go out and get chocolate chips whilst I wash the egg out of my hair."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Elijah was sleeping. It was a very annoying habit of his, actually. Klaus had been up for eighty three hourse, tracking down witches and warlocks who could find witches and warlocks who might know somebody who knew something about Aviana. He reminded himself to thank Rebekah, wherever she may be for soing a truly fantastic job of hiding his daughter. Aside from being excited to finally meet his little girl, he was also excited to see his little sister again.

Unfortunately, Elijah insisted on taking a break to sleep and eat and all of death's other little faults. They were sure that they were close, and Klaus shouldn't meet his daughter on enough caffiene to make a sloth hyperactive. But Klaus, no matter how hard he tried, simply couldn't sleep. He was too excited and decided that pacing made a better passtime than sleeping as he waited for his older brother to wake up.

He sighed, stopping in the middle of his hotel room. Elijah was across the hall, completely oblivious to Klaus's insomnia. It was the middle of the day for one thing, you could hardly blame him for being awake. Maybe he should check out that witch August had sent them to. Get a new lead and inform Elijah when he woke. He could deal with one measly witch by himself without needed Elijah, afterall. He grabbed his car keys and ran out to his car. He had waited thirteen years to see his daughter, he was not going to wait any longer.

It was a short drive to the address the warlock had given him. It was a beach house in a little closed community, pretty big and expensive with balconies and wrap-around porches. He walked up to the front door and banged loudly with his fist, waiting for a reply. He heard someone inside pause and wait. He could almost smell the fear from whoever inhabited the home. "Who is is?" a feminine voice called, the voice of someone quite young.

Klaus paused before breaking the doors off it's hinges. He looked into a brightly lit living room, with glass doors at the back leading onto the beach, fancy furniture and picture frames all over the room. There was a petite girl standing against the wall of the room, staring terrified at Klaus. She had wavy brunette hair in a thick side ponytail, just under her ear. She wore a stripy, black and white top with cleeves to her elbows and black skinny jeans and little black ankle boots. Klaus felt like he recognised her from somewhere but he couldn't place where.

He hovered his foot over the threshold and stepped inside when he realised he could. "Where is she?" he asked, when he was fully inside the house. "Where is my daughter?"

The girl paused. She was a child, probably in her teenage years. But she was definitely the girl August described. He gave Klaus a detailed description and this girl matched it. So she was definitely the witch that August had told him about the one who could tell him where his little girl was. "What?" she asked, dumbfounded.

Klaus skipped to the point, refusing to waist time. "A friend of mine, Rebekah, blonde woman with a bad temper, she would have been hiding a child who would now be aged thirteen. I'm under the impression that you know where I can find her."

"Rebekah..." the girl mused, as if she recognised the name. "This girl she was hiding was your daughter?"

Klaus sighed. "Don't play dumb with me and don't waste my time. Just tell me where I can find her."

The girl began to move away from the wall, looking like she was plucking up courage. She took a deep breath. "I can't help you find your daughter-"

Klaus interrupted her by running at her and pushing her against the wall she had previously been backed against. "I thought I just told you not to waste my time."

Aviana did not like that. She had never like being pushed around or manhandled. She felt her uncontrollable magic build up inside her and used it, along with her hybrid strength she push Klaus back, throwing him across the room and watching his bang into the wall on the other side of the room. She watched him crumble to the ground before getting back to her feet and face her. "You will not push me," she told him. "You may not violently touch me at all."

Klaus growled, surprised by her power. He had felt her physical strength along with her magical strength and that was something special indeed. The peices clicked together in his head. The way he recognised her, her strength. He knew those eyes.

"If only you had let me finish," she said, "this could have gone entirely differently. I can't help you find your daughter. I am your daughter."

* * *

 **So, I was thinking for ages on how to get Avi and Klaus to meet, and I came up (mostly) blank. I wanted it to be dramatic, you see. Anyway, next chapter will be up soon.**

 **Please, please take a second out of your time to review! -Izzy**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone! Sorry about that last cliffhanger! Glad you guys like, and thank you so much for reviewing! -Izzy**

* * *

"If only you had let me finish," she said, "this could have gone entirely differently. I can't help you find your daughter. I am your daughter."

There was a short pause as Klaus and Aviana stood in the living room, facing each other. There was a dent in the wall where Avi had thrown Klaus away from her. His black jacket had wall dust on it and his hair was dishevelled. Oops. Maybe she had thrown him a little too hard. "You're my daughter," he whispered, more of an observation than a question.

"Well I erm... I think," she said.

"You think?" he asked.

"Well I don't know, do I?" she exclaimed. "It's not like I had a DNA test done or anything. But if your sister is Rebekah Mikaelson and you handed your baby daughter over to her thirteen years ago to hide from your enemies then, yeah. I'm your daughter."

"Well it seems like Rebekah's filled you in on all the details," he said. "For the record, now that I know, it's obvious you're my daughter. And I'm so sorry that I didn't see it before. You have my eyes, Rebekah's eyes."

There was a long pause, both of them trying to figure out what to make of the other. Aviana didn't have the best first impression of her father and Klaus seemed to be trying to find a way to make it right. Before either of them could say anything else the door opened and Caroline stepped in, a small blue carrier bag in her hand from the convenience store around the corner.

"Hey Avi, I-" Caroline started. She cut herself off when she saw who else was in the room and her eyes widened. Klaus's eyes narrowed, clearly confused as to what Caroline was doing there. "Klaus," Caroline breathed, shocked. She noticed the bosy-shaped dent and cracks in the wall. "What happened!?"

"I happened," Aviana said.

"Avi?" Klaus asked, looking to his daughter. He had heard the name come from Caroline's lips and assumed it must have belonged to his daughter.

Aviana nodded. "Yeah, it's short for 'Aviana'. Rebekah thought she was naming me something pretty and unique. Really she was just giving me a name that would always be misspelled, mispronounced and never found on a coke bottle."

"It's a very nice name," Klaus said. "I'm glad Rebekah made a good choice." The little group paused and Klaus spoke again, turning his attention away from his daughter. "Caroline," Klaus said, confused. "What are you doing here?"

Caroline paused, looking between Avi, Klaus and the dent. "I... It's really complicated."

Before she could say anything else the front door opened again and Rebekah ran in. She took a minutes to study the scene before running to Avi's side and grabbing her hand. "Why is there a dent in my wall?" she asked. "That's my first question."

"That's my fault," Aviana said. "Well, partly my fault anyway." Aviana tried to continue but could quite find the right word to address Klaus. Did she have to call him 'Dad' or was she allowed to use his real name?

"I sought of attacked her," Klaus said. "And she fended me off."

"You _attacked_ her?" Caroline and Rebekah exclaimed simultaneously as the crossed their arms, glaring at him.

Klaus paused, holding up his hands in a sought of defense from the two blondes. "I thought she was the witch who was hiding mhy daughter from me," Klaus said. "I made a mistake and I apologised for it."

Neither Caroline or Rebekah's facial expressions changed from shock and anger. "I can't believe you!" Rebekah exclaimed at the same time as Caroline said: "You haven't changed a bit!"

"Okay, look," Avi interrupted before her two blonde aunts could rip into Klaus. "We're all a little confused here and we all have questions. I'll put a pot of tea on and we can talk for a minute."

She went into the kitchen and everyone sought of relaxed. Rebekah and Caroline still looked angry, though. "She seems pretty forgiving," Klaus mentioned. "For a daughter of mine, anyway."

"She not forgiving you," Caroline corrected. "She's just giving you the chance to earn that forgiveness. But she's actually a lot less mad at you than she probably would be with anybody else."

"When she's really upset she can be quite a handful," Rebekah nodded.

Aviana seemed to have heard them because she called in from the kitchen: "Why do you think you have two hands?"

A few seconds went past before Klaus and Rebekah ran into each other's arms and hugged each other, siblings reunited after 13 years.

So they made some tea and sat around on the couches around the coffee table. Rebekah asked her questions first, to Klaus. What happened to Dahlia and the rest of his enemies? Where was Elijah? And most importantly, how did he find them? What was the chink in their armor? "I knew a witch," Klaus said. "She helped me find a vampire who knew a human who knew about a witch. I tracked down that witch who lead me to a warlock. August. He lead me to believe that Aviana was the witch who was hiding my daughter. You did a wonderful job hiding her Rebekah. For that, I owe you my thanks." He spoke simply without looking at Avi once, which unnerved her a little.

"So how are you two friends?" he asked, indicating to the two blondes. "Last time I checked you hated each other."

"You hated each other?" Aviana asked, shocked. For as long as she remembered, Caroline and Rebekah were friends.

Caroline nodded. "For a while, when we first met." She turned to Rebekah and they exchanged a look. Rebekah sent a quick text on her phone. "You'll have to tewll him eventually," Caroline said. "This time is different than the rest."

Klaus looked confused as Rebekah told him. "I'm married," she said, giving him the news she had most dreaded giving to him. "After you gave me Avi I went back to Mystic Falls to get some stuff from home. I ran into Matt Donovan and he ended up coming with me."

Klaus's face fell and Caroline turned to Aviana. "Avi, let's go upstairs for a minute. Give Rebekah some privacy with her brother."

Avi and Caroline disappeared and Klaus got to his feet. "Really? I leave you with my daughter, _my only daughter_ , and you replace her father as quickly as possible? With Matt Donovan?"

"I didn't replace you, Nik!" Rebekah said, getting to her feet as well. "I knew you wouldn't like this. I married Matt, not to replace you in Avi's life, but because I love him! What was I supposed to do? Be stuck alone with a baby for years?"

"Make a friend," Klaus said. "You have Caroline, apparently!"

"I wouldn't have Caroline if it wasn't for Matt!" Rebekah exclaimed as her phone buzzed. She ignored it. "Listen to me for a minute, okay? Having a strong male role model is one of the most important necessities in a growing girl's life. She needed a man to show her how men should treat her, what she should expect from boys in the future. Matt being around has been nothing but good for her."

"I'm supposed to be the male rolemodel!" Klaus said, growing angrier and angrier. Caroline was probably preventing Aviana from eavesdropping, but if Klaus didn't calm down she would hear him without supernatural help. And that wouldn't make her like him any more.

"I know you are!" Rebekah said. "But you couldn't be! And that's not your fault, and that's not mine or Matt's fault either. It just happened, Nik, you couldn't be around. I married for love, a finally fell for someone who wouldn't hurt me. By coincidence he happened to become an important part of Avi's life. He turned into a man she could look up to."

Klaus paused. "Does she call him father?" he asked.

"Sometimes," Rebekah whispered after about a minute of silence. "But she knows he's a father. She's waited her whole life, she's been looking forward for this day for thirteen years. She's loved you the whole time and she's never met you before today. Just because Matt's her father doesn't mean you're not!"

Klaus paused again. "Where does Caroline come into that?" he asked.

"She went looking for Matt," she said. "Somehow she found us and got involved. That was about ten years ago. Friendships were made. Aviana kind of looks up to Caroline like an aunt."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Aviana stood in the middle of her bedroom, tidying up a few things. Caroline had stopped her from eavesdropping on whatever Rebekah and Klaus, her father, were talking about. She didn't mind. She didn't think she would have liked to hear it anyway. Caroline had gone back downstairs for a minute but Avi had stayed in her room. There was a knock on the door and she had an idea of who it could be. When she opened her door, she found herself to be correct. "Hi," she said.

Klaus just paused, looking at her. "Hi," he replied back to her. "I didn't want to talk to you with Caroline and Rebekah breathing down my neck."

Avi moved away from the door so he could walk in. It wasn't like her room was embarrassing or anything. Blue wallpaper, black and white wall art, hardwood floors and the comfiest bed she could create. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked.

Klaus took an immediate interest in her awards shelf. Several cetificates, a few trophies, nothing huge. Often for sports, soccer or dancing, a few for science or math and a writing award. Oh, and about three of four ones for art. "Everything," he said. "You must have some questions for me."

"Just one," she corrected. "Please don't take this the wrong way. What took you so long? Why did I have to go thirteen birthday's without you?"

Klaus didn't reply at first. He looked a little heartbroken. "Aviana, you need to understand only one thing: I was doing everything I could. Dahlia, my aunt, was after you, after the first born of you generation in our family. When I tried to kill her, she went on the run, forever looking for you. It was incredibly hard to track her down, chase her, and cut all leads she might have on you. Cutting those leads meant cutting my connection to you as well. I wish there was something I could have done to get here sooner. I really do."

Aviana nodded. "Okay. I believe you. I just wish it didn't have to happen."

He smiled at her. "You're an artist," he said. He nodded to a wall of framed pictures that were some of her favourites. One with two baby birds on a branch, one of a surreal eye and one of The Mad Hatter. She was very good. It may have been in her nature, inherited from her father.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Sometimes. Sometimes I'm a writer, sometimes I'm a dancer. I have a lot of hobbies. But my art... I get that from you, don't I?" Klaus turned to her in confusion, probably wondering how she knew that. She walked over to her nightstand and pulled out a couple things. On top of the nightstand Klaus noticed a few pictures, some ones Kol and Rebekah took when she taught him out to take a 'Selfie'. From the draw, Avi pulled out two things, a piece of wood, carved into the shape of a Knight that Klaus had made when he was little and given it to Rebekah. The second thing was a piece of paper that his own hand had drawn across, creating a horse with Caroline Forbes stood next to it.

"Caroline gave that to you?" he asked.

Avi nodded. "Yeah, for my 13th birthday, so not that long ago. Along with some other presents as well. She really loves this picture, but she wanted to show me some of your work. She figured, as many things I had of yours the closer I would feel to you. It didn't really work, but it was nice having it."

Her thirteenth birthday... That would have meant Caroline kept his drawing for over a decade. "What are you?" Klaus asked before realising she might take that the wrong way.

Her eyebrows shot up. "My, my. What a rude question." She sniggered at the worried look on Klaus's face and waved it away. "Don't worry, I figured you would ask that. Mo- Rebekah refers ro me as a Tribrid. Triple Hybrid. With my biological mother being a werewolf and you being a Hybrid, realistically speaking I should be 3/4 werewolf and 1/4 vampire. But with your mother's witch gene involved everything sought of evened out into thirds."

"So, what can you do?" he asked.

She shrugged. "What can't I do? I can have blood but I don't survive on it. I can use magic. I can turn but only when I want to. And when I'm afraid."

"And what are you afraid of Avi?" he asked, using her nickname for the first time.

She shrugged. "What have I got to be afraid of?"

* * *

 **Okay, I know this chapter was a little short but I kind of have two other stories to update today and a bunch of homework so it's the best I can do for now. Klaroline will talk next chapter about them and (of course) much more Mabekah.**

 **Please, please review! I love hearing from you all so much!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey all! So sorry for another long wait. I had something written for this, but my mother also uses this computer and she was going through and deleting stuff she thought we didn't need. She can be a little silly some times. Anywho, I sought of turned this into the last full chapter, so I tried to tie up all loose ends and everything. I'll probably write a little epilogue, so keep an eye out for that. -Izzy**

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

Aviana had barely slept. She had had a few hours of shut-eye near midnight, but she had woken back up at three and not been able to fall back into her peaceful slumber since. She was too excited. Too excited to see her father again, her biological father. There was so many things she wanted to tell him and so many things she wanted to ask, but she knew better than to go out and find him in the middle of the night, so she sat awake waiting.

She sat at her desk, her head nodding a little to the beat of the music that pumped through her headphones as she rocked on the legs of her chair, her sketch pad on her lap, doodling a few useless, meaningless drawings. Her best friend, Sameera, had always said that her 'doodles' were masterpieces, but Sammy couldn't draw a straight line to save her life.

She sighed, ripping the page out of her sketch book and scrunching it up into a ball before throwing it into her waste paper basket, along with a lot of drawings which she had decided were mistakes. She stood up from her desk and walked downstairs to the kitchen, loud music still booming away in her ears. She opened up the fridge, dancing a little to the beat and shaking her head.

She grabbed the milk from the fridge and span around in tune with the song, turning to face Klaus, who was stood at the door. "Hi," she said, taking out her headphones and checking her iPod for the time. 5:30am. "What are you doing here?"

"Well after sitting around for thirteen years with the paralysing thought that my daughter was growing up somewhere without me," he said, "I found it a little hard to stay away for one more night."

Aviana smirked, nodding. "I have that affect on people," she said. "They just can't stay away."

He smiled at her as she turned the coffee machine on, setting the milk on the counter and beginning her usual coffee routine a little early. "I can only imagine what you must have thought about me when I wasn't here to be the father you deserved."

"Oh stop putting yourself down," she complained, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, that drives me up the wall. Have some self-confidence. And honestly, occasionally I had my doubts about you. But overall I knew you wanted to be here, that's what they raised me to believe."

" _They_ meaning Rebekah and Matt?" he asked.

Aviana shrugged, getting another mug out to make Klaus some coffee as well. "My entire life I'd call them something along the lines of 'Mum' and 'Dad'. But that doesn't seem right anymore now that you're here. And I don't see them as an 'Aunt' or 'Uncle' either. But at the same time, I – don't take offence – I'm not ready to call you 'Dad' yet. That just seems weird, you know? But I do see you as a father. Don't even wonder what's going on in my head, it's one big mess up here."

Klaus chuckled, sitting down on one of the bar stools behind her. "You've always thought of Matt as your father. It's understandable."

She looked over her shoulder very judgementally. "Don't go getting jealous, you're a little old for that. You like, half a step away from being ancient. I just wish we had met differently."

Klaus remembered the day before, when he had threatened his own daughter, and she had thrown him into the opposite wall. "I suppose that's what I get for assuming you were weaker than me," he shrugged, looking into the other room, where the wall dent still showed.

"You couldn't possibly have known how strong I was," she smiled.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Aviana went off to school a few hours later, after a few of her friends showed up at the front door to walk with her. Including some boys, much to Klaus's distaste. Nevertheless, he didn't say a word about it. Rebekah woke up and ran off to work. He didn't see Matt Donovan that morning but he was told that he had gone off to work. Lord knew where Elijah was at that point in time. But Klaus had nothing better to do than sit around their home.

Fortunately, he had some of the best company in the world.

"I don't know who thought it was a good idea to leave us alone together," Caroline called from the kitchen. She walked into the living room where Klaus was absent-mindedly stroking the family cat, Fluffy, or something. Caroline sat next to him, a packet of chips in her hand. "Don't tell Matt I'm eating these, by the way. He's very protective over his chips."

"You're secrets safe with me, Love," he said.

She smirked. "I almost forgot you called me 'Love'," she said. "I didn't forget about you're promise to 'be my last', though."

"I didn't realise my crush had been so patchy in your memory," he smirked at her.

"It hasn't," she said. "Neither was it so one-sided."

It took Klaus a second before he realised what she said. His head snapped around to face her and she didn't meet his eye. "I thought you hated me."

"Oh I did," she said. "I still do, to some extent. But the thing is: I'm a very emotional person, so I usually feel more than one thing at once. So I did return the majority of your feelings I was just... too afraid to take that first step."

"And now?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Now it's different. Why do you like me?"

Then Klaus shrugged. "Love and trust used to be jokes I couldn't quite wrap my head around. Until I met you. I found myself putting all of my faith in you as I fell in love."

She smiled. "I didn't expect any of this when I first met you," she said. "It's been thirteen years, Klaus. I've grown as a person and I doubt having a daughter hasn't changed you at least a little."

"We're two different people now," he agreed. "With one thing left."

"I'm in love with you," she blurted out. "And I want to leave this town, leave my home in Mystic Falls and explore the world. And I want you by my side the whole way, showing me everything you wanted to."

He smiled wider before pulling her towards him and kissing her, a kiss he had waited for for thirteen years, because it wasn't rough, like it had been when they had been up against a tree, it was a lot more passionate and promised a future. And he could stay like that for centuries, her lips pressed against his, and her arms wrapped around her shoulders, and his hands on her waist. She pulled away for a minute. "Everything about this screams 'recipe for disaster'."

"Yeah, it does," said another voice. They turned to Rebekah who was looking at them in disgust from the kitchen. "I just came back to get a folder I forgot..."

"Do you mind?" Klaus asked, once again finding himself annoyed at his little sister. "This is kind of a private moment." Caroline just smiled weakly at Rebekah.

Rebekah shrugged. "I was supervising, not participating," she said. "I'm going now anyway."

She left and Caroline turned back to Klaus. She just laughed a little before kissing him again.

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Are you okay?" Matt asked. Rebekah was sat in the kitchen, swirling a glass of wine in her hand and watching Matt cook. They were having everyone over for dinner that night, a family dinner to meet everyone, and to discuss where they went from there. Where Avi went. Because she was certain that Klaus would want her back, to raise her by himself or with Caroline or something, to have her as his daughter and not Matt and Rebekah's.

She nodded at him, completely lying and ignoring the gleam in her eyes that suggested the beginning of tears. "I'm fine," she said.

Matt put something onto simmer and sat down next to her. "Rebekah, Aviana loves you. She would never let Klaus take her away from you. You're fine, okay?"

"Maybe," Rebekah said. "But that doesn't she might turn to looking at me like her aunt. She calls me her mother and I like it. Because raising her hasn't been easy has it, Matt? I earned the title of her mother and I don't want that taken away from me, even if Avi isn't."

"She doesn't have any other mother," Matt said. "I happen to know Avi. She loves you, you're always going to be her mother. She's always going to be your daughter." He leaned forward and kissed her cheek and she paused.

"What about you?" she asked.

He shrugged, pausing himself. "I have my doubts," he said. "I mean... she has her real father now so it's not exactly like she needs me..."

"What the hell did I just hear?" Avi said from the door frame. She walked into the kitchen, a facial expression that looked something like anger. Surprisingly, Avi was rarely angry, but when she was, it was never at them. "Why the hell would you say that?"

"Avi," Matt said. "We were just exchanging theories and talking about possibilities-"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Don't you wave that comment away. You can't just say something like that and then pretend like it's nothing." She walked further into the kitchen and faced them both. "You two raised me; you two are the ones I call parents. _Always and Forever_ , okay?"

Matt and Rebekah exchanged looks. "Klaus has been waiting 13 years to be a part of your life-"

"And he will be," Aviana interrupted. "Because I will find a place for him, as a father or not. But he is not going to replace either of you, do you hear me? I don't like being without you, so I won't. Please don't think that way."

Rebekah just smiled and opened her arms. Aviana ran into them and Rebekah hugged her daughter, her child. "I love you," Rebekah told her. "To the moon and back."

Avi sniggered at the line Rebekah would always used to say to her when she was little. "I love you too," she said. "You're my mother, okay? Always have been, always will be. And just because our family's extended, doesn't mean that it's over." A second or two later, Matt joined the hug and his two favourite girls welcomed him into it. "And you'll always be my father," Avi told him. "Whether you like it or not."

Matt smiled. "Good," he said. Aviana broke up a minute later and smiled at them again before leaving the kitchen. Matt turned to Rebekah who turned to him at the same time. "And you still love me, right?" he smirked.

"Love's not a powerful enough word for what I feel about you, Matt," she said. "You gave me, in a few years, what I have wanted for centuries. We made a family together, created a very human life for ourselves, you turned into a vampire for me. And every time I look at you, the whole world stops for a second and I'm reminded how lucky I am to be here with you."

"Well I guess it's lucky then," he said, leaning down to kiss her, "that I'm not going anywhere."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Matt made dinner, and the whole event was considerably low-key, especially for the Mikaelsons. They sat casually around the dining table, eating and laughing and Rebekah was glad – it couldn't have been smoother.

Avi met Elijah and started a conversation with him at ease. That was surprising, considering how intimidating most people found Elijah. But he toned down the scariness for Avi, or she was just brave. Matt and Rebekah jumped into the conversation every now and then, but Klaus and Caroline were too busy playing footsie under the table to care. And they thought nobody noticed.

Aviana managed to perfectly divide her paternal attention between Matt and Klaus and Nik actually began to respect the relationship Matt had formed with Aviana, even if he didn't like it. And he probably never would, but Avi's love for the quarter-back prevented him from harming a head on Matt's head.

Elijah and Klaus kept asking about the wedding, and Rebekah knew that they had both wanted to be there. She had a feeling Matt was the only one of her lover's they even partly approved of. Maybe it was his innocence, or maybe they just had a feeling that he would never do anything to hurt Rebekah. Or maybe it was the thirteen years the spent together that convinced her brother's that he was trustworthy. Either way, they wanted to be at the wedding. So Rebekah showed them her photo album, with all of the wedding pictures in it.

She also showed them a photo album of Aviana throughout the years, much to her distaste. It made Klaus feel a little better about not being around. "Look at us," Rebekah smirked. "Sat around eating dinner and looking at photo albums. Almost like a proper family."

"We are a family," Elijah said. "One big family."

Klaus nodded. "One big, unhappy, dysfunctional, slightly psychotic family."

"Always and Forever," Aviana shrugged, smirking.

* * *

 **Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. I've loved writing this story and I've loved all of the positive comments. Keep and eye out for the epilogue, and please, please review! -Izzy**


	12. Epilogue

**Hi! This is more of a drabble-epilogue more than anything. This is my final installment of this story, and it's been a pleasure to right for you all. Please review one last time. -Izzy  
**

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Matt and Rebekah walked hand and hand into their house after spending the night out. Rebekah let go of him, only to wrap her arms around his shoulders and kiss him, feeling his arms slip around her waist. It had been their 12th annerversary of marriage that night, and while they were completely used to each other, they never got boring.

Matt pulled away slightly and nodded to something over Rebekah's shoulder. She turned around to see what he was looking at and noticed Aviana, their adopted daughter (of soughts), lying asleep on the couch, wrapped up in throw blanket. Rebekah also noticed the pile of text-books on the coffee table. "School's getting to her," she whispered.

"Would you carry her up to bed, or should I?" Matt asked.

Rebekah smiled. "I'll take her up," she said. Matt nodded and shrugged off his jacket before heading in to the kitchen. Rebekah moved around to the edge of the couch and scooped Avi up, letting the throw blanket fall off her. Aviana instinctively wrapped her arms loosely around Rebekah as she slept and Rebekah carried her upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, Rebekah walked past several guest bedrooms until she reached her brothers. Klaus had moved in with them not long after he met Avi for the first time in 13 years. He wasn't going to be seperated from her again and Avi was too stubborn to move away from her friends or school. Klaus had his door open and Rebekah smiled at what she saw.

Caroline had her head rested on Klaus's chest and Klaus had wrapped his arms around her. They cuddled up together and Rebekah almost sniggered at the fact that Klaus was a cuddler. Klaus and Caroline had been together for almost two years at that point, so she guessed that Caroline, the worlds most sappy girlfriend, had turned him into the cuddling type.

Rebekah noticed something else. Caroline's hand was resting on Klaus's chest and Rebekah noticed the gleam of an engagement ring. So the bastard had finally done it then. He had that ring lying around his sock draw for months now. Caroline was officially going to be her sister in law.

And Rebekah was actually okay with that. She had used to hate Caroline Forbes, but ever since the girl showed up at her wedding 12 years before hand and forced her way back into Matt's life, and therefore Rebekah's life, the girls had become best friends.

Rebekah moved on to Aviana's bedroom and tucked her into bed, something she hadn't done for years since Avi was a little girl. Rebekah paused before leaning down to kiss her forehead. Avi reached out. "Mom," she groaned, beginning to wake up.

"Ssh, go to sleep," Rebekah said. She muttered something else under her breath that Aviana didn't quite get.

"What was that?" she asked.

Rebekah smiled. "Nothing. I just said that you're my Life's Greated Blessing."

She left Aviana to go back to sleep and found Matt in the bedroom. He automatically wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek. She leaned into him and sighed, thinking about how lucky she was to finally have someone like him. She finally chose one of the good ones. She wasn't exactly the cuddling type either, but she could stay in his arms forever.


End file.
